Wrong Enemy
by Raven-Kay
Summary: Fred & George have returned to Hogwarts for their 7th year and find themselves in class with Harry, Ron, Hermione and Draco. In Chapter 9: Trick or Treat, Halloween is the perfect time for masks and disguises, but what is left hidden and what is reveald?
1. Chapter 1: Missing

A/N: I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters, so if you recognize the names, they're not mine.  If I could find myself a Fred or a George I would!  Please leave reviews, I don't mind criticism but please make it constructive.  Cheers.

Chapter 1:  Missing

Platform 9 ¾ was quickly filling up with wizards and witches alike.  Parents were waiting to see their children off for another year of school at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

            Departure time always seemed to go by so quickly to the parents; they never felt as thought they had enough time to give one final hug good bye. For the students it couldn't go any slower.  The Weasley family especially never had enough time, having to say goodbye to both their own children and the extra stragglers.  There was of course Ron and Ginny, Harry and Hermione to say good-bye too, but this year the Weasleys were also saying good-bye to Fred and George.  The twins were returning to Hogwarts now that Umbridge was gone and due to some strenuous convincing on their parents part. For them, going back to school meant that they could test out some of their latest products, not to mention learn a few extra potions to add to their list of experimentation.

            This send off was particularly sad for the Weasleys because it was the last time that they were to send off their three sons, and the boy and girl that they viewed as more of their own, Harry and Hermione.

            The Weasleys found that this year they were getting a few extra minutes to say their farewells.  It was five minutes until noon and the Hogwarts Express was nowhere to be seen.

            "You don't suppose we missed it, do you?" Ron asked.

            "Of course not Ron, you don't think that it's possible that all of these people would have missed the train as well?  Not to mention, I arrived here a whole hour before everyone else did; being Head Girl means I have a few extra responsibilities."  Hermione said as she looked around the platform to see many of the students trying to get their parents to stop hugging them so much.  "It is kind of odd though, never in History has the Hogwarts Express ever been late to bring the students to school.  At least that is what it says in Hogwarts, A History in Chapter ten, An Explanation of Student Transportation." 

            "There is always a first time for everything," George said.  The twins were almost 20 and they looked much different from the other students in seventh year.  They were both now standing a soaring 6'4, and their bodies were no longer gangly, but lean and muscular and their green eyes glowed. They were identical in every way, even down to their cowlicks that poked through in their newly shaved heads. The only way that one was able to tell the twins apart was that George had a small wooden beaded necklace with a small, carved bludger hanging off of it.  Their brother Ron was growing up much like them, only a little shorter.  Hermione was shocked to find herself surrounded by four good-looking young men.

            Harry's old cowlicks actually worked with his hair now, as he currently wore it in what was called the fauxhawk.  He wasn't shy about his lightning bolt scar showing through anymore. Everybody already knew about it, so he figured why not have a nice hair cut. It didn't hurt that Ginny had mentioned to him over the summer that his shaggy hair kept falling into his eyes.

            He had figured out over the summer that he liked Ginny, but had decided not to make any moves on her because she was his best friend's little sister.

            She caught him looking at her at that moment and blushed.  She turned away from him. "Hermione, do you know how we can find out where the train is?  I'm actually looking forward to sitting down for that long ride."

            Hermione headed off to go see if she could get some answers.

*          *            *

            Hermione turned the corner of the platform to head to the office, her long wavy brown hair flowing down her back, and the golden highlights in her hair shimmering from the station lights.  She was no longer the small scrawny Granger that everyone knew.  She had worked at a summer camp and had built a little muscle, and she had grown a full inch, now standing at 5'4.  She had been too busy that morning to get herself properly primped, but still had enough time to put on some light eye shadow and some lip gloss.  She thought she looked awful, but she was on a mission.  Her feeling like she looked awful was quite the contrary to the thoughts of the person she crashed into when she turned the corner.

            "Geeze Granger, watch where you're going. Some people happen to like their space and they watch where they're going.  If you wanted to touch me so badly you could have just asked instead of jumping me."  Draco Malfoy could not believe how much someone could change over one summer.  The girl who he would never have thought of as beautiful was defiantly one of the most gorgeous things he had ever seen in his life.  He wasn't quite sure what to think at that moment, so chose to snap back her like he always did. Just because she was now beautiful did not make her blood any cleaner or her personality any less snobbish.

            "Yes, Granger, what are you gawking at?" Draco stood there in his school robes, 6 feet tall.  Hermione was staring at his hair and how much it had changed the way he looked.  His hair was still blond but it was no longer slicked back as it had been for the six years she had known him.  His hair was now free and contrary to what everyone thought his hair was actually wavy.  His blue eyes burned into her brown eyes waiting for her answer.  He took her by the shoulders and moved her back.  Hermione noticed the Head Boy badge on his chest.

            "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go wash my hands now."

            "Actually Malfoy, I was hoping you'd…" Hermione did not want to be asking him for an answer, but he was the only one who appeared to be around to answer.  "I was hoping that you might know where the train is."

            At that moment they both heard the train whistle blow.  They turned to take a look at the platform to see . . .nothing.  They could hear the train, but they could not see it.  Students were gathering at the edge of the platform to take a look down the tracks to see if they could spot the train, and Malfoy was the first one to bang his head.  Bangs were echoing down the platform as students and parents alike leaned over to see if the train was coming.  People were rebounding off of thin air. Malfoy looked confused as he rubbed his head. 

            "What the . . .? It's not funny!" he said as two students who were behind him stood laughing.  In fact, laughter was being heard through out the tunnel along with the dying sound of heads hitting something hard.  Hermione decided to leave Malfoy at that moment before he blamed her for the goose egg on his head.

            Hermione returned to where the Weasleys and Harry were standing.  "I couldn't find out what was taking the train so long, but I think I have idea where it might be now."  She took out her wand and pointed it towards where people were banging their heads.  "Conspicio."  And before everyone's eyes, the Hogwarts Express appeared and just about ready to take off without any of the students on it.  Hermione quickly ran on to the train and told the conductor to wait.

            Hermione had to explain the situation to the conductor because he had no idea that everyone was unable to see the train.

            As she exited the train to make sure that everyone was getting on safely, she passed Fred and George who were still laughing.  "Nice one boys, you almost made everyone miss the train, not to mention you handed out a few good goose eggs while you were at it."

            "We know, it was a great prank, although for once we weren't the ones who pulled it."  They then boarded the train, "So it appears that you'll have more than two pranksters to look after this year Hermione,' George called over his shoulder, as him and Fred entered a cabin.  Hermione just stood there contemplating how many headaches she may get this year if the twins weren't the only ones she had to look out for. She shook her head trying not to worry about pranks just yet and went to join the twins, Harry, Ron and Ginny in their cabin.

            The Hogwarts Express pulled out of the station and headed towards the school for another year to begin, one that would definitely be memorable.


	2. Chapter 2: The Transfer

AN:  As I said in chapter one, I do not own any of the characters found in Harry Potter.  I hope you enjoy this next chapter, and please review and I do like criticism as long as it is constructive.  Cheers.

Chapter 2:  The Transfer

The rest of the train ride had been uneventful.  All that anybody could talk about was how funny it was to see people slam into the invisible train or how much their head hurt from hitting it.

"You have to admit, Hermione, the invisible train prank was bloody marvelous."   Fred said after seeing Hermione roll her eyes for the one-hundredth time during their conversation.

"Yeah, I just wish I had thought of it first."

"George, you'd have to be good at charms first before you could do something like that."  Hermione received a small round of applause from the cabin; the only person who wasn't clapping was George - he chose to wear a sour expression instead.

"Do you suppose the snack cart will come around again?  I'm hungry." Ron said as he stepped back into the cabin after sticking his head out to see if the cart was coming back.

"Ron, you just ate half an hour ago.  How could you possibly be hungry?"  Ginny asked as she looked at her brother in disgust.

"I'm a growing boy.  I need all my nutrients."

"You're defiantly growing, you should cut back on all those sweets though, Ron, and opt for some fruit instead, because I am pretty sure that you want to grow up and not out." Ginny giggled after hearing Hermione's remark.  Ron stood there with his mouth open in shock at Hermione's forwardness.

"Hermione, you're really the one for witty comments this year.  You're going to have to be careful what you say as Head Girl.  Because, won't stuff like that get you in trouble with Dumbledore?"  Harry asked, smiling at her.

"You guys aren't going to cut me any slack for being Head Girl, are you?"

"Nope, we're sure not – you're one of the enemies now."  George said as he winked at his twin.

"Yeah, you'd better watch out, mate, we don't works so well with authority figures.  I hope we don't have another Umbridge on our hands, Mione."

Hermione stood up and stomped her foot.  "I am not an Umbridge, nor will I be.  And you guys had better not treat me as though I am because I will take points away from Gryffindor if you do." This statement sent gasps across the cabin.

"You wouldn't do that Mione.  You can't stand to lose, just as much as we can't."  Ron said as he pulled her back down to sit beside him.  She just glared at him.

"You guys have to understand that as Head Girl I have more responsibilities, and I have to set an example.  I can't go showing who my favorites are."

"Ah, Hermione, we're just bugging ya.  We won't pull anything _that bad _on you."  George said, making sure that he emphasized the 'that bad' as she could still expect some pranks done on her.

"We'll cut you some slack, Mione, because it appears that you'll have someone else to chase after, with that invisible train incident this morning."  Fred said.

"Bloody brilliant if you ask me, they just better not tread on our turf.  We're the pranksters of Hogwarts, at least we were, and we're taking our spot back.  Eh, Fred?"

Hermione just shook her head as the conversation returned to that stupid invisible train prank.

*            *            *

Hermione had never been so happy to see Neville Longbottom as she entered the Great Hall.  The boys were still, some how, finding things to talk about regarding the train.  Neville, she thought, would at least have something else to say.  The group took their seats at the table beside Neville, Seamus and Dean.

"Hello Hermione!  Congratulations on becoming Head Girl.  I'll bet you're going to have a lot of fun this year, not to mention all those extra responsibilities.  I don't know how you'll do it.  Won't one of your first jobs be to find out who made the Express invisible?"

"Wasn't that brilliant mate?"  Harry said.  Hermione just rolled her eyes as the gang once again started talking about the train.  Seamus told them that he saw Malfoy bang his head and even got up to do an imitation of Malfoy rebounding off of the train.  That gave the group a whole extra five minutes of basking in the glory of the story of the invisible train.

"Enough with the train!  Could we please change the subject?"  Hermione had heard enough and just slipped out the request.  The group went silent and all looked at her. Ginny nodded her head in agreement.  George broke the silence. "One good thing about being back at school is Quidditch.  I hope my spot as Beater is still open, Harry?"

Quidditch, the one other subject that Hermione did not want to talk about.  The group continued to talk about the upcoming tryouts for the Gryffindor team, games they had seen over the summer and new moves that they had perfected.

Hermione rolled her eyes and turned her head towards the first year students that had just entered the Great Hall to be sorted into their houses.

*            *            *

The table had finally stopped talking and were now watching the line up of first years get shorter as they each went to their new house.

"Who is that?" Harry said as he pointed to someone at the back of the line.

"Harry, it's rude to point," Ginny quietly reminded him.

"She's no first year, that's for sure."  All the boys turned to see who Harry was gawking at.

She stood at the back of the line, heads above the first year students.  She had to be at least 5'10.  She had red hair that fell down her back, falling just below where her bra strap would end beneath her uniform.  In her hair were chunks of copper highlights.  Looking at her, one was able to tell she had blue eyes.  They sparkled all the way from the other end of the Great Hall.  She was slim, but obviously was an athlete.  Her face, although with out make-up, was adorned with a light sprinkle of freckles.  Her features were flawless.  The boys could not believe what they were seeing.  She appeared almost perfect in every way.  When she smiled, although it was bright, the girls in the hall were relieved to see that there was a small gap between her front teeth.  She wasn't that perfect, but the boys thought that it was cute.  She had obviously seen the boys at the Gryffindor table looking at her because she smiled at them and cocked her eyebrows in interest.

"I don't know who she is, but I definitely want to meet her."  George said as he winked at the boys.

Professor McGonagall finished the line of first years and the tall, mysterious red head stood alone in front of the sorting hat.  McGonagall called the girls name, "Ygraine Marcum."

   "Oh," said the hat. 

"Take a seat and put me on, 

I'll tell you where you ought to be.  You're not as young as those ones just sorted, 

Your mind is made up to which direction you will take, or so that is what you say to me.

Unlike the young ones,

 Your path has already formed, 

And the house that you will sit in will not bend the road you travel

It is not hard however 

To see where you ought to be

You're braver than most

And fun is your game

Your loyalties lie right

Once they are made

Although cunning and mysterious

And you will do anything you please

It is not hard to see

That you wear your heart on your sleeve"

            The hat took a pause and Ygraine looked around.  Everyone in the hall was looking at her.  She knew why, she was a little old to be sorted into a house.

            "Gryffindor!" the hat yelled out, but unlike the first years who had just got sorted, Ygraine did not get a round of applause.  The Gryffindors sat there, their curiosity building up.  Hermione looked around at the table and started to clap.  She nudged Harry and Ron to do the same.  The Gryffindors quickly caught on and welcomed Ygraine to their table.  She sat down at the end with the first years.

            Questions about who Ygraine was were whispered down the table and she just looked on with a grin across her face.  She appeared to enjoy the mystery surrounding her arrival to the Gryffindor table.

            Dumbledore broke the whispers, "Welcome, new teachers and students, to Hogwarts .  Ygraine, may this year be what you wanted.  And welcome back to all the returning students.  Let the feast begin."

            "What she wanted? What do you suppose Dumbledore meant by that?" Ron wasn't asking anyone in particular; he was just hoping that someone would know.

            "Why don't you just ask her yourself Ron?  She'd probably like to talk to someone close to her own age tonight.  She's probably been hanging out with the first years all day long.  You could also find out what year she is in while you are down there."  Hermione said as she glanced down the table to see Ygraine sitting at the end doing something with her food.

            "No, no, I'll go talk to her.  Ron'll probably screw it up by asking her something stupid."  George got up and headed down to where Ygraine was sitting.  "Could you get me a buttered pumpkin while you're down there?" Ron called out after his brother. "Stupid prat.  What, does he not think I can handle myself around a pretty girl?"

            "Apparently not, Ron, that's why he's doing it himself.  Not to mention, you do have the habit of letting thinks slip out."  Harry said while stuffing the last bit of his bun in his mouth.

            "Whatever Harry, we both know that George is trying to get ahead of the crowd."  Ron said as he was reaching for another piece of chicken.

*          *            *

"It's Ygraine, right?"  She nodded her head and motioned for George to take a seat. "Thanks.  I'm George Weasley, seventh year, Gryffindor house.  What year are you in?"

            "I'm in my seventh year as well.  If you don't mind me asking, aren't you a little old to be in seventh year?"  George was shocked by her question, and how she made such a statement sound so polite and not condescending.  He was also happy to hear that she was in the same year as him.

            "Yeah, I'm a returning student.  Along with my twin, Fred.  We left the school 'bout a year and a half ago.  Really awful professor was workin'ere. We figured we didn't have to put up with it, so we left.  Made our own shop too – you may have heard of it, Weasley Wizard Wheezes."

            "I have actually, haven't been there myself though.  What sort of stuff do you have there?"  George enjoyed explaining all about the sort of jokes, gags and fun things that Fred and he were selling, and was pleased to see that he wasn't boring Ygraine with all the details.

            "I'm guessing you and Fred are quite the pranksters then?  You ever get in much trouble for doing stuff like that here?"

            "Well, we did our last year here.  We were kind of testing our merchandise on willing first years.  We paid them, but apparently that didn't go over so well with some of the authority figures, one of our main reasons for leaving actually.  So, why did Dumbledore say he hopes that this year is what you wanted?"

            "It's pretty simple, actually.  I've been home schooled my entire life, and I told my parents that I wanted to take my final year at a real wizarding school. Now I'm here. So far it appears that this will be a fun place to go to school.  Do incidents like the invisible train happen often?"

            "They haven't really occurred since Fred and I have left, but now that we're back we're hoping to start them up again."

            "Oh, were you and your brother responsible for it?"  Ygraine's interest was peaked. 

            "No, I wish I knew who did it though.  I'd congratulate them on a prank well done, then tell them to sod off for a year because Fred and I are back."

            "HEY GEORGE! Are you gonna bring me my pumpkin?"  Ron hollered from his spot down the table.

            "Just a minute, mate, I'm bring your bloody pumpkins in a sec!"  George glared at his brother.  "That's Ron, my younger brother, he's seventh year too.  The red headed girl beside him, is our sister Ginny, she's sixth year.  Fred's the guy that looks like me."

            "Well George, it was nice to meet you, I hope to see you around.  You better take your brother the pumpkins before his stomach brings him down here himself."  She smiled at him and handed him the platter of baked small pumpkins.

            "I'll see you 'round, Ygraine."  He got up and headed back to his spot down the table.

*          *            *

"'Bout time you got back.  I was craving those little pumpkins." Ron shoveled a few of them onto his plate.

            "So what is the deal with her?  Why is she here?"  Fred asked.  All the boys turned their attention way from their food to George.

            "She's in seventh year and she's been home schooled her whole life, wanted to do her last year at a real wizard school."

            "Wow, is that all?  You were there for a good fifteen minutes, and that is all the information you got?  What else did you talk about?"  Hermione asked, confused at the little the information George brought back.

            "I talked about the shop, how Fred and I are jokesters, why we left Hogwarts the first time, the train – what?" Hermione and Ginny were looking at him funny.  "What? Did I do something wrong?"

            The girls rolled their eyes and looked at each other.  "Boys, always talking about themselves."  Hermione said to Ginny who was nodding her head in agreement. 

            Then all of a sudden laughter broke out from the table, fingers were pointing at some of the first years, and then the fingers turned to Ron.  "What!? Why are you pointing at me?  What is so funny?"  Ron started to panic.

            "Ron, your freckles," Hermione gasped between her laughter, "Your freckles have turned purple!"  Ron looked at himself in the reflection of his spoon.

            "Oh my God!  How did this hap- Fred?  George?  What did you do?" Ron glared at his two brothers who were holding their stomachs they were laughing so hard.

            "We did nothing!"  The twins looked down the table at the first years that had turned purple.  George looked at the pumpkins he had brought back from Ygraine at the other end of the table.  He looked down at her and noticed that the sprinkle of freckles on her face had turned purple.  She looked back at him and smiled. "Good one," she mouthed to him.

AN:  

I'd just like to thank my editor Lady Jayne, and if you guys are into dark Hermione/Draco stories you may want to check out her latest piece called "Control".

            I'd also like to thank sylvervixen for being my first reviewer (not including my editor) and trust me, I have a plan for our beloved Fred and George.


	3. Chapter 3: Potions

AN: I do not own anything that is found within the Harry Potter series.  This is a complete work of fiction and I appreciate reviews and criticism as long as it's constructive.  Hope you like this chapter.

Chapter 3: Potions

The purple spots had only lasted the one night.  Everyone who had been infected by the purple freckles had woken up the next morning with clean faces, looking as normal as they had prior to the incident for their first day of classes.

            Hermione was walking down the hallway, reading her book on advanced potions when _he_ walked up beside her, matching her stride for stride.  She could smell him, his cologne sinking into her pores; he smelt almost ... refreshing. 

            "Morning, Granger.  Already have your pretty nose in a book, eh?  Oh, don't look at me that way. Didn't your mother ever tell you your face could get stuck like that? Wouldn't want your only good quality to be ruined now, would we?" 

            Had Draco Malfoy just paid her a compliment?  If he had, Hermione was surely confused by the mixed up signals her sent to her.  Instead, she just chose to take it like an insult.  "Unlike you Malfoy, my father isn't buying me a position with the Ministry.  I plan to earn my way there by actually getting good grades and demonstrating a good work ethic.  And my looks aren't my only quality, some of which you will never see."

            Draco grinned at her, "I know they're not your only quality.  I said they were your only _good_ quality."  Hermione just huffed and continued on her way towards her class.  Draco kept pace.

            "Granger, why don't you take that book that you have permanently shoved up your ass out and have some fun.  Enjoy your walk to class, the few moments where you don't have to think of anything.  Where you can bask in all the power that your new badge has.  Just this morning, I scared three first years into thinking that I was going to take points away from their houses because the stripes on their ties weren't all facing the same direction."  Draco seemed pleased with himself, Hermione just glared at him.

            "Book shoved up my ass? Ha!  Why don't you just take your Pig-Headed, selfish, arrogant, Slytherin self and kiss my book filled ass!"

            "Ms. Granger! As a head-girl I would expect that you would know better than to yell such obscenities in the hallways.  If you and Mr. Malfoy are having personal problems I suggest you should deal with them outside of the school day.  Five points from Gryffindor for poor vocabulary and manners.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a class to teach and I expect both of you to be there on time!"  Snape walked past them, his robes flowing behind him.  Hermione's eyes burned into Draco's.

            "Now Granger, if you had only taken my advice on abstracting a certain object, you would not have lost five points for your house already."  Draco leaned against the entrance to their potions class.

            "Oh, sod off Malfoy."  Hermione said to him in a hushed voice as she brushed passed him.  "So easily provoked," he said back, a smile spreading form ear to ear.__

*          *            *

"Hermione.  Saved you a seat.  Harry's sitting with the new chick."  Ron said, motioning Hermione over.

            "She has a name Ron, it's Ygraine, not chick."  Hermione placed her bag in front of her and started to extract her quill and parchment, and placed her advanced potions book on their desk in front of them.

            "Sorry 'Mione."  Ron looked at her, squeezed her hand, smiled and turned back to his parchment.  Hermione smiled back and put her bag away.

            "Despite your abysmal performances, all of you have managed to scrape your way into my class.   This is your last year of potions and I expect you all to pay attention and study hard.  I will not have failures in my seventh year class.  If you start failing I will not think twice about removing you.  Open your books to chapter one where you will read and take notes on the importance of Yarrow root, and the significance of its various colours.  And I expect a four-foot parchment on it by Friday morning.  You may begin."

            "Four feet by this Friday?  He's crazy!"

            "Ron, it isn't that bad.  Yarrow root is very important; the chapter itself is forty pages. I think you'll be able to find something to write about, and I'll be here to help you." Ron smiled at Hermione; she smiled back and started taking notes.  Ron opened his book and rolled out his parchment.

*          *            *

            "Four feet of parchment?  Is professor Snape always like this, or is this just his first week scare tactic?" Ygraine turned to face Harry.

            "Um, Snape's always like this.  You have to be careful when around him, especially if you're sitting with me.  He has a personal vendetta against me."  Harry kept scanning the room to see where Snape was.  Snape was standing at the back of the classroom searching though his ingredient cupboards. Ygraine looked over her shoulder to see Snape as well.  "Well, he's a good distance away.  Why does he have it out for you?"

            "To make a long story short, I survived."

            "Oh yeah, that's right, you're _the_ Harry Potter.  So what do you do around here for fun?  The twins over there apparently pull pranks."  Ygraine was definitely not interested in reading about Yarrow and how it is a plant used for protection potions and warding off evil if planted in the proper place.

            "I play Quidditch.  I'm actually the Gryffindor team captain."

            "Psst… Harry, get back to work, Snape is coming," Hermione warned as Snape walked down the aisle. Ygraine turned around to see Snape glaring at her and Harry as her started to pass by.  Harry quickly pretended to work; Ygraine whipped her head around to face the front of the class just in time to see Snape trip and fly forward, his robes flying over his head.  Contained in giggles were heard spreading across the classroom.  He threw his robe back over his head, gathered up his pride and looked around for the culprit.  He looked on the floor, there was nothing there: no books, no bags, no feet.  He tossed his stare off to the twins who were beside him at one desk; they appeared innocent.  He then turned his attention to the other desk beside him, and looked for an excuse to get the attention away from him and looked at Ygraine's empty parchment.

            "Ah, Ygraine.  Our new student perhaps feels that she doesn't have to do her work in class does she?  Finds it amusing to see her professor trip?  Ten points from Gryffindor."

            "But sir, I have been working.  You'll notice that my chapter has already been read, I've even highlighted the important parts."  Snape looked down at Ygraine's book and flipped through chapter one.  It had not only just been highlighted, but colour-coded to correspond with various colours of the Yarrow root, and there were notes in the margins.

            "Okay, so you've finished your reading, brava for you.  Ten more points from Gryffindor for being a smart aleck and distracting your fellow students from their own work.  Perhaps you should ask Ms. Granger how much I appreciate know-it-alls."  Snape walked to the front of the class and sat down at his desk.  "Continue!"  Everyone turned back to their work.

            "Hermione?"  Ygraine said facing forward, not to draw attention to herself, but still able to talk to Hermione.  "Are you just going to let Professor Snape get away with being rude to you like that?"  Hermione didn't say a word and continued on with her work.

            "Like I said, you have to be careful with Snape, he hates Gryffindors."  Harry said while taking notes on red Yarrow.

            Ygraine started to pretend to work; she took her quill and reached across Harry's book. "Just pretend I'm explaining something to you."  She looked up at Snape and smiled; he just glared back at her.  "So, you're Quidditch captain?  I really enjoy Quidditch, played some back at home."

            Harry's eyes sparkled, "Really?  We're having tryouts for the Gryffindor team this Saturday.  We have a lot of positions to fill because most of the team finished last year.  So far there is just me, Ron and Ginny.  I play Seeker, Ron is Keeper, and Ginny is a Chaser.  If you feel up to trying out you're welcome to come."

            "I don't think discussing Yarrow root is that exciting Mr. Potter, Ms. Marcum.  Please focus on your _own_ work."  Snape had now found another victim.

            "Maybe I will come out, thanks Harry."  The two of them returned to their own work.

*          *            *

            Hermione looked away from her own work and brought her attention to Ron's parchment.  Amongst his notes he had been drawing.  She noticed a Quidditch pitch, a Snitch, a few eyes and lips.  She leaned in closer to see what he was working on.  "Ron, you should be doing your w-".  Ron looked over at her and she noticed a perfect sketch of her face at the base of his parchment. Ron turned red.  "Ron that's really good – but you really should do your work. Snape has it out for everyone today."  She touched his arm, sending warmth up through his body.  He looked at her, her hair falling down, brushing up against her parchment as she rested her forehead on her hand, her quill gracefully gliding along her parchment.  She was so beautiful, he thought.  She looked up at him, smiled, "Ron – work."  And continued on her own.


	4. Chapter 4: Quidditch Tryouts

AN: If you haven't figured it out, I don't own Harry Potter or anything in it, this is a complete work of fiction.  I had some fun with this chapter because I love Quidditch, and I hope you guys enjoy reading this chapter as much as I did writing it.  R&R.  Cheers.

Chapter 4:  Quidditch Tryouts

            "I'm so glad that it's Saturday and I no longer have to worry about that bogus Yarrow paper.  Now I can focus on Quidditch and product testing.  We've been falling behind, mate."  George and Fred turned into the Great Hall for breakfast.  

            "I know, bro, I'm getting worried about it too.  I mean its been, what, a week or so since we pulled our last stunt, and someone else has been pulling'em and we haven't done anything to find out who it is or try to top'em?  You don't suppose we're maturing do you?"  Fred was actually genuinely concerned.

            "Nah, mate, we're Weasley men, we never fully mature."

            "What about Percy?" Fred looked at his brother.

            "He's got mum's genes in that department.  Ah, decisions, decisions.  Ygraine sitting by her beautiful self over here, and Harry, team captain, sitting over there, and today being Quidditch tryouts.  Who to sit with?"  George started his eany-meany-miny-moes with his finger.  Fred hit his hand down as both Harry and Ygraine looked over at him.

            "I'm pretty much guaranteed the spot on the team, I think I'll go work my charm with Ygraine instead."  George proceeded to walk over to Ygraine who was eating a bowl of porridge with milk and brown sugar.

            "Morning George.  You're up early.  I pictured you being the sleeping-in kind."  George took his seat across from her.

            "I normally am, but it's Quidditch tryouts today, so I got up early to get some food into my system.  How 'bout you, are you normally up this early?" George filled his mug with tea and drank it back.

            "Yeah, I pretty much wake up early everyday.  Do homework in the morning so I have the rest of the day to do things.  But this morning I got up for the same reason as you.  I'm trying out for the Quidditch team."  She smiled across at him.

            "Really?  You play?  What position are you going for? Chaser?"

            "Beater, actually.  I've always enjoyed that position, so I figured I'd try out for it."  George was taken back.  This girl sitting across from him wanted to be one of the Gryffindor Beaters, but Fred and himself pretty much had the positions in the bag; he didn't want to be the reason she didn't make the team.

            "You sure you want to got for Beater?  I mean, it's a pretty dangerous position.  Wouldn't you rather be a Chaser?  Bask in all the glory from scoring all the points?"

            Ygraine just looked at him.  "Nah, I think I'll try my luck with Beater, thanks for your concern though.  I'll see you at the pitch; I'm going for a jog before tryouts to get rid of my nerves.  Cheers." She got up and walked out of the Hall.  George went to join his brother and Harry.

            "She's trying for Beater!"  He flopped down into his seat, filling his cup up with more tea.  "I tried to convince her to go for Chaser, but she said she'll try her luck with Beater.  She's gonna end up hurting herself and then I'll feel bad."  George grabbed a scone, spread some strawberry jam on it and shoved it in his mouth. 

            "I'm sure everything will be fine."  Harry almost laughed at his friend who had just smeared jam on his face.

            "What, are you sure you're not afraid she'll be better than you?"  Fred poked his twin.

            "No.  I'm scared she'll be better than your slow ass!" George replied and poked him back.  Next thing Harry saw was a mess of Weasley boys scraping on the floor.

            "Boys!"  McGonagall came walking down the Hall.  "Don't go getting yourself hurt or in detention before the tryouts.  Harry, you have the pitch from 10am until 2 pm, then the Slytherins have it.  Good luck boys, and try not to fight so much, you're adults now, you should be setting a better example.  Good day."  And she headed out of the Hall.

            Ron could be heard laughing as he walked up to them, Hermione at his side.  "Yes, you should set a better example," Ron said in his best McGonagall voice.  "Mmm, bacon." And he sat down.

            "Morning, boys.  All ready for tryouts today?"  Hermione helped herself to a cup of coffee.  "Harry, are you nervous about your first day as team Captain?

            "Not so nervous now that I'm awake.  I am however worried about having these two on my team."  Harry pointed at the twins with his thumb.

            "I thought Ygraine was trying out for Beater?"  Ron asked.

            "You knew?" asked George.

            "Yeah.  Contrary to popular belief, I do talk to girls other than Hermione."  His cheeks flushed as he looked at Hermione.  "So how are you so sure that they'll both be on the team?"  Ron scooped some scrambled eggs onto his plate.

            "How thoughtful of you, Ron."  Hermione squeezed his arm.  He smiled back, blushed and shoveled some bacon into his mouth.

            "Because we're bloody pros at the sport.  We made the team our second year, and it took Ron until his fifth.  That's why he's so sure we'll make the team."  said the twins.

            Harry looked at them, a smirk spreading across his face.  "Okay, I'll rephrase my sentence.  I'm worried about the _possibility_ of having these two on my team."  Both of the twins could be heard groaning.

            "Much better.  Where's Ginny anyways?  Shouldn't she be up?"  Ron looked around for his sister.

            "Oh, she already ate with Seamus earlier this morning.  She was up at sometime around six.  I saw her and Seamus leaving the common room."  Hermione said spreading some honey on her toast.

            "With Seamus?"

            "Oh, Harry, don't be jealous.   She was going to help him with some moves on being a Chaser.  He's trying out today as well.  I don't think you have anything to worry about."

            "I'm not worried… I was just… wondering what she was doing up so early, that's all.  Seamus is never up that early, so I could only wonder what he was up to too."  Harry looked down at his hands.

            "Whatever, Harry.  It's obvious you like our little sister."  Everyone turned to look at Harry.

            "No I don't.  I mean - I like her, but I don't like her like that.  I just don't think she should be with Seamus."  They all rolled their eyes at him.  "Mione, you coming to watch tryouts?"  Harry asked, changing the subject the only way he knew how.

            "Yeah, I think I'll come out, but I'm going to bring my books if that's okay with you guys?"  She took a sip of her coffee.

            "No problem."  Ron said back.

*          *            *

It was a warm sunny morning.  The sky was almost clear with only a few clouds scattered throughout.  The Quidditch pitch was perfectly groomed, the grass had been trimmed, and the sand was raked.  Ygraine stepped onto the field and breathed in the smell.  "Mmm… I'm home."  She said to the air and began to do laps around the field.  She could fell her heart racing, the heat from the flush on her cheeks and the crunch of the grass as her feet passed over it.  Wherever she had traveled, Quidditch fields would always take her home. 

            After a few laps she grabbed her broom and brought it with her to the centre of the field where she laid down in the grass to look up at the sky.  There was not a worry in the world; she was free out there.  She closed her eyes and soaked in the sun.

            "You won't get much of a workout lying on the grass Ygraine."  She opened her eyes and smiled up at George who was looking down at her.  "I see you have a Golden Falcon.  Nice broom.  Need help getting up?"  He offered his hand and helped her up off the grass.

            "Thanks, George.  You ready for tryouts?  Harry and Ron here yet?"  Ygraine looked around the field that had slowly started to fill with Gryffindor students; the bleachers also had some students sitting in them, talking amongst themselves.

            "Sure am, and the boys are just over there.  You still sure you want to try for the Beater position?"  They both walked towards Harry who was talking to some younger students.  "Yup, still wanting to try for Beater.  I'm pretty sure I can handle my own, thanks."  She smiled at him and ran ahead to go talk with Ron and Harry.  "Morning guys… When do we start?"

            The boys looked over, Harry patted her on the back.  "So, you want to try for Beater, eh?  Pretty daring woman if you ask me."  The three of them went to go join Ginny and Seamus in the field.

            "That girl will not give up."  George said to Fred, he just rolled his eyes at him.  "Don't worry mate, I'm sure she'll understand.  Who knows, maybe she actually knows how to play."

            "Okay everyone, gather round."  Harry called out to the students, there looked to be about ten of whom were actually trying for the team.  "Now, before we start, for those of you who do not know who I am, I'm Harry Potter, team captain.  Today we will need to fill four positions, two Chasers and two Beaters.  If you do not make the team I will still keep your name because accidents do happen and I will still need a scrimmage team for practices.  First I will introduce you to the other players.  This guy to my left is Ron Weasley, our Keeper, and to my right is his sister Ginny who is one of the Chasers.

            "I expect you all already know how to play Quidditch, if not, I can tell you now, you will not make the team, but I will gladly teach you at a later date."

            The twins looked over at Ygraine, she still stood there, holding her broom proudly, her smile gleaming through the sun shinning in her face.

            "Now, I'll ask all those trying for Chaser to stand to my right and those for Beater to my left."  Ygraine, Fred and George moved to the left as all the other students went to the other side, except for one small first year, who took one look at the three of them standing tall, and decided to try his luck with the Chasers..  Ygraine smiled at the twins as they stood on either side of her.

            "To start, if you all look up you'll notice that there is an obstacle course.  This is to determine how well you handle yourself on your broom, as well as your speed.  You will be timed, so try and do your best.  If you will all follow me to the opposite side of the field.  Ginny, Ron, you'll be at the other end timing."  Harry mounted his broom.

            Everyone followed.  Fred and George were amazed at how graceful Ygraine was taking off.  George also took note of how sexy she looked mounting her broom and winked at his brother who just shook his head at him.

            Ginny and Ron headed to the other side.  "Hey Ron, there's Hermione."  Ginny waved at Hermione who had taken a seat up high in the bleachers all by herself, her books pilled up high beside her.

            "Hey Mione!"  Ron yelled out to her as he just missed hitting one of the marker flags for the obstacle course.  He immediately turned red as he saw Hermione cover her mouth, forcing herself not to laugh out loud.  He joined his sister, at the goal posts, who was laughing hysterically.

            The time trials went by smoothly with only a few hits and bumps from some of the students.  Harry was surprised to see that Ygraine was one of the fastest ones out there, and didn't want to tell the twins that she had beaten both of their times, but knew that he could trust their two siblings to rub it in for him.

            He has the students trying for Chaser practice some give and goes down the pitch and allowed the three Beaters a break, because he didn't want to take the Bludgers out until the Chasers were out of the air.

            Once the Chasers were out the air and back on the ground Harry had them set up fake goal posts on the ground to practice their aim.  The goal posts had been fixed so that they would keep track of how many Quaffles had made it into the individuals hoop.  Harry took the three Beaters up into the air.

            "Kay guys, I really hate to do this but each of you will take a turn on the field.  I'll release the two Bludgers, and you'll have to protect and hit the flying dummies that I've set up.  The reds you protect and the green ones you hit.  I'll be testing you on your speed, accuracy, skill and how well you protect the red dummies."  The three of them looked around and saw a bunch of potatoes sacks tied to broom sticks that were flying around.  They all laughed at Harry's homemade dummies.

            "Better stop laughing at my dummies or you all wont make the team!  Fred, you can go first, then George, then Ygraine you can go last."

            "Good Luck guys."  Ygraine said to both of the twins, smiling but not mocking them.

            Harry released the Bludgers, and Fred took off to protect the potato sacks, as the three others moved to the side.  He hit a majority of the fake Slytherins, and only allowed one red sack to be hit.  George had done just about the same but had let the Bludger hit two red sacks.

            "Phewf – that was tiring eh Fred?  Good luck Ygraine.  We may have made it look easy, but it really isn't."  He smiled at her, and then they all watched as she took off.  She moved swiftly and gracefully between the dummies, hitting two Slytherins with one whack of a Bludger.  Her dives for Bludgers and hitting them on target as she moved downwards was shocking to the three guys.  Even Ron and Ginny who were down on the ground were watching as Ygraine bolted from one end of the field to the other to deflect her own shot.  She was an amazing Beater.  Harry looked at the twins and began to worry.  Ygraine had returned from the trial protecting all of the red sacks and almost destroying all of the green ones.

            "Wow."  Is all the twins could say ash she came back, the sweat on her face making the few loose strands of hair from her ponytail stick, her huge smile was also glowing through.

            "What a rush!"  Ygraine twirled her broom upside down and flew around for a few seconds dangling beneath her broom before she brought herself up right again.

"Okay, you guys can take a break.  I'm going to go check on the Chasers."  Harry took off for the ground.  _Fuck, she's really good_, was all that Harry could think about as he landed.

*          *            *

            It was one o'clock and Hermione had about seen enough of Quidditch practice, and was glad to notice that there was only an hour left of it.

            "I guess Potter has found his secret weapon after all."  Draco came and sat himself beside Hermione and looked at all of her books.  "You just can't escape the library for one afternoon, can you?"  Hermione looked over at him in amazement. 

            "What do you mean Harry has finally found his secret weapon?." Hermione asked studying Draco's profile as he looked out towards the Quidditch pitch.  She noticed how his profile was perfectly shaped, and that his left ear had a piercing at the top of it, a silver band with a Celtic knot on it rounded the rim of his ear, his blond waves passing behind it.  Hermione watched his lips as he responded; he did not take his eyes off of Ygraine as he spoke.

            "Ygraine Marcum, daughter of Hilary Marcum, most valuable player in 1978 and '79 for British Quidditch.  Played Beater for the Oldham Miners from 1971 until 1979 when she found out she was pregnant with, guess who?  I often wonder why no one has figured it out yet.  She's a pureblood, father was a Slytherin, mother was a Ravenclaw.  I'm surprised it took them so long to get their daughter enrolled here.  They haven't really been heard of much since Hilary left the Miners, they've been seen all over the world though."

            Hermione was shocked at how much Draco knew, and she shook her head to make herself stop looking at him.  "Malfoy, man of mystery – do you know everything about everyone or should I inform Ygraine that she has herself a stalker?"  Hermione let a little giggle escape. 

            "I see you've removed a few pages from the book up your ass."  He looked her in the eyes and she could have sworn that he was smiling at her.

            "I suppose I should head down to the locker rooms, see what kind of losers I have trying out for my team.  Mind you, Slytherin will take the cup this year even if Potter does have Marcum on his team."  Draco got up and started to walk away.

            "Why did you come up here in the first place?"  Hermione asked before she could stop herself.  Draco turned around and looked at her.

            "Wouldn't you like to know." His grey eyes laughed at her as a smirk spread across his face and he was gone.  Hermione just picked up one of her books and tried to read away the thoughts that were going through her head. 

*          *            *

            "What was he doing over there?" Ron asked as he huffed across the field towards Harry.  "He can't be up to any good.  Why's he talking to our Hermione?"  Ron kicked some of the sand in front of him. Harry could only look at his best friend and shrug his shoulders.

            "He's Head-boy, she's Head-girl.  I'm sure it's just some Head-Student thing."  Harry honestly had no idea what to say to Ron who wasn't really worried why Draco had been visiting Hermione; he was jealous, but Harry was not about to bring that subject up again.  Harry had different worries on his mind. He already knew who his new Chasers were going to be, but he had yet to figure out his Beater situation.  He had just worked with them again to see how well they worked with each other, and he still couldn't figure out who to choose.

            "Ygraine, can I talk to you for a second in the change rooms please?"  The twins looked at each other as Ygraine walked towards Harry and headed off to the change room.  The twins followed close behind and took out their extendable ears to listen in.

            "Crap, she's gonna hate us after this.  Good thing I didn't get to know her to well."  George said looking at his brother.  "All that work I've put in and now Harry is going to flush it all down the drain.  What a ball-buster!"

            "Shh… I can't hear.  No matter what he says, George, it's gonna suck either way for you."  The twins listened in.

            "Now Ygraine, this is really hard for me because I am really good friends with the twins, and they used to be on the Gryffindor team, and they worked great together…"

"He's telling her she's not on the team!"

            "Shhh… I can't hear!"

            _"I understand Harry…"_

_            "So, I have to ask you, man this really sucks, I mean, you're a bloody brilliant Beater, and I don't want to lose you – our team could use someone with your skills…"_

            "He's about to say it, she's not on the team – there goes my chance if I even had one, thanks Harry!" George said.

            "Do you want to hear what he's saying or not?  I'm betting she's not as a bitter person as you are – she'll understand why she didn't make the team.  Now be QUIET!"  They both turned back to their ears.

            _"Harry, it's okay, honest.  It's not hard for me I barely know them. I mean, you watched them out there as much as I did.  They both have skills, but it's obvious Fred is the better Beater out of the two of them, and from the practice I had with both of them, I can tell you I have more chemistry with Fred out on the field."_

_            "Okay.  You've made this easier, but it's still gonna be hard.  How do you tell one of your friends that he didn't make your own team?"_

_            "Post if on a piece of paper?  Have Ron or Ginny read the list out?  Or you can just go up to him, pat him on the shoulder and say, 'sorry mate, you just don't have the proper skills to play on my team.'"  They both chuckled as Fred and George heard them move towards the door._

            "That bitch!"  George huffed off towards the field.

            "George!"  Fred called after his brother.  Ron and Ginny looked at Harry and Ygraine as George went past them.

            "What?"  Harry asked as he approached the group in the centre.

            "I think they were listening in, Harry."  Ginny said placing her hand on his arm for support.

            "Fuck.  Well I guess the cat is out of the bag, might as well say who's made the team.  Everyone, gather round, I have the team made up."  Harry announced the names, "Ron Weasley, Keeper, myself, Seeker, Ginny Weasley, Seamus Finnegan, Liam Jones all Chasers and Fred Weasley and Ygraine Marcum are our Beaters. Thanks for coming out."  Ygraine smiled at Fred and mouthed "I'm sorry" as they both watched George leave the field.


	5. Chapter 5: Miscommunication

AN:      I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters.

Elvish Babe: I thought hard about what you said, and although it would be funny if George played for another house team, it wouldn't go over to well with what I have planned.

            I hope you all enjoy this chapter.  RR.

            Cheers

Chapter 5: Miscommunication 

George's dorm room was filled with the various belongings of his other roommates.  The room that had traditionally fitted five had been changed to fit seven of them.  He lay on his bed looking up at the burgundy fabric framing his four-poster bed.  He always enjoyed the look of the dark woods against the burgundy bedspreads; they always seemed to radiate warmth and comfort no matter what mood he was in.  He just lay there looking around the room, seeing how everyone was already perfectly unpacked, their stuff pinned and displayed properly.

Seamus had pin-ups of beautiful witches from the various _Witches Monthly Magazine_, Neville, Ron and Harry had put up all their Quidditch memorabilia, and Dean put up his football posters.  Ron had also set up his own little art studio by his bed.  His paints were spread out on his dresser.  He was currently working on a painting of two dragons intertwining in knots; one was red and obviously female, the other was a dark burning green.  The former almost stood off the canvas; the presence of the green dragon was captivating and mocking, and it was eerily familiar, but George could not connect the passion behind the painting to anything in particular. He just knew that it was tearing him to look at it.

He turned his attention over to his twin's area.  Fred had set up shop in his corner, his alchemy set perfectly placed on his desk.  All his ingredients were perfectly labeled and placed in the glass cupboard in order of potency.  Charts had been placed around his desk with various recipes for some of the new tricks they had come up with.  Everyone seemed to be at home with all their stuff.  They had built themselves a self-haven.

George looked around at his possessions sprawled out in front of him.  Unlike his roommates, he had not unpacked yet, and figured that now was as good a time as any other.  He had spent his first week back at Hogwarts checking out all of his hiding spots and seeing if anything new had popped up.  Harry had also reminded him of the Room of Requirement, something George was very happy to remember.  He looked back at his belongings, and put all of his Quidditch stuff back into his trunk.  He took his guitar out of its case and stared strumming the much-used strings.  His mother had introduced him to the instrument when he was a young child. She had figured that it would help keep him occupied for a few minutes so that she could try and keep track of him for more than the average one-hour a day.

He looked at the other things that were spread out on his bed.  A pair of extendable ears, some fake body parts, blood candy, and hair-gain pills (he had realized that summer that he could also sell these pills to balding wizards and not just use them on the unsuspecting female who would wake up with some extra body hair the next day.)  He also had his songbook, the pages filled with some of his original work.

He looked at the clock and saw that it was dinnertime but decided that he wasn't feeling hungry enough to go eat.  If he was hungry later he could just sneak down to the kitchen and get something from the house elves.  He decided that he'd go walk around the grounds instead, maybe even stroll down to Hogsmeade, since 7th years were allowed to go down on weekends whenever they felt like it; plus he wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone, not after being humiliated by Ygraine that afternoon at Quidditch tryouts.

*            *            *

That night in the Great Hall, a lot of the 7th years were absent from the dinner tables, most of them picking a restaurant in Hogsmeade for their dinner instead of what was being served to the rest of Hogwarts.  Ginny, Fred, Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting at the long Gryffindor dinning table munching away on chicken wings lavished in honey garlic sauce, chips and various vegetable sticks.

"I do hate how these wings make me so sticky."  Hermione said, sauce smeared across her cheek and adorning all of her fingers.  The group was to amused to see Hermione so unlike her clean self to tell her about the sauce that spread almost from her mouth to her earring clad earlobes.  "There really should be some sort of charm to keep food of one's face, don't you agree?"

"Yes, they really should think of inventing some sort of charm, some people really need it."  Harry said as he let a smirk sneak through at the irony of his best friends situation.

"Well, well, well.  I see the Weasel family is here for dinner.  What, your mother couldn't afford to let you all eat at Hogsmeade?  Well, I guess having 12 children does get a little expensive."  Draco said as he came and took a seat right beside Hermione. Everyone was looking at him open mouthed as he made himself comfortable, grabbing Hermione's glass of pumpkin juice and taking a gulp. Some students from the Hufflepuff table were even looking over and whispering over the presence of Draco Malfoy at the Gryffindor table.

It was a good thing that Ron was on the opposite side of the table, across from Draco, because he looked ready to jump at his throat.  "That's an interesting observation you've made there Malfoy, but it appears that you are eating here in the Great Hall as well. Did your daddy reduce your allowance since losing the War?  You know, budget cuts and all to the Dark Side.  Not to mention Voldemort not being around to sign your father's pay cheques. And there are only _seven_ Weasley children not twelve; I thought your math skills were better than that, Malfoy. Tisk, tisk."  Hermione said, staring at him right in the eyes.

Draco appeared a little shocked at first from Hermione's statement and couldn't quite figure out what to say to her quick defense to Ron, until he noticed her cheek.  "Granger, although a good defense, how can one take you seriously with all that chicken sauce spread across your cheek?"  Some pink flushed across Hermione's cheeks as she glared at her friends, then looked back at Draco.  But before she could say anything, Draco had taken his thumb and passed it over her cheek clearing the sticky sauce away, leaving everyone who was watching in shock, most of all Hermione.

It wasn't the fact that Draco had touched her that was shocking her.  It was the thrilling jolts that passed all over her body when he did.  The butterflies that started tying knots inside of her stomach, the flush that passed all over her skin, the actual feeling of her breath being taken out of her lungs.  It was all of those elements that left Hermione in shock.  Why had she felt like that with just the simplest touch?  She didn't want to know the answer.  She had to break the silence that had spread over half of the Great Hall.

"Malfoy, why are you here?" Hermione demanded wiping her face thoroughly with her napkin, getting rid of any essence of Draco Malfoy and the honey garlic sauce.

"I came over to let you know that Dumbledore wants to have an emergency meeting with us this evening at eight, after he has a discussion with _some_ students."  Draco said as he glanced over at Fred, who was trying to slip something into his drink.  "You better be careful there, Weasley.  Don't think because you're older means you can get away with things.  You're still a student here and seeing as I'm Head Boy, you'd better respect that or you'll have to suffer the consequences."  Draco started to get up, leaving the Gryffindors shocked from his visit.  As he turned away and started to head down between the rows of tables, Fred was stricken with a case of verbal diarrhea. "Oh and what are you going to do, ya kiss-ass mama's boy?" and with that he chucked a chicken wing straight at Draco's head, hitting it with a giant splat, the garlic sauce oozing into Draco's blond hair.  

As fast as he could, Draco turned on is heals and looked straight at Fred. "One hundred points from Gryffindor.  That's what!  Enjoy the rest of your meal, Weasel Senior."  And he went back to the Slytherin table as he zapped away the gooey mess that everyone in the hall was looking at.

"Oh the nerve that fucker has!  If I knew I could get away with it, I'd totally punch his pretty-boy face in."  Fred said as his gaze followed Draco back to his seat, then flipped him the bird.

"Well Fred, you did kind of hit him in the head with a piece of chicken."  Ginny stated as she reached for some more carrot sticks.

"Yes well, he deserved it.  I mean, he knows we don't like him.  So why does he feel he can just come and sit with us?"

"Fred, you're starting to act a lot like Ron."

"- Hey!"

"Sorry Ron, but it's true.  Malfoy said that he had just come to tell me that we have a meeting with Dumbledore tonight.  That's all.  No hidden agenda."  Hermione said looking around the Great Hall.

"Speaking of Dumbledore," Harry said, "where is he?"

Just at that moment gasps were heard through out the Great Hall, then the sound of muffled laughter followed by bursts of laughter began as Dumbledore entered.

"Bloody Hell! Look at Dumbledore."  Ron said as he pointed towards the teachers' entrance to the Great Hall.  Dumbledore had walked in, looking perfectly normal except for his bright florescent pink beard, which hung down the front of his robes, and his bright blue hair falling down his back.  He did not appear to be mad, rather he seemed quite pleased with the situation.  Every student and teacher was looking at him in amazement.  Dumbledore just walked through the Hall and as he passed the teachers to arrive at his spot at the head of the table, they would turn to get a closer look at the punked out professor.

"Albus, I know you wanted to speak to the children this evening at dinner, but you just have to ask for their attention, not go to these lengths to get it."  Dumbledore looked at professor McGonagall and smiled at her, McGonagall smiled back.

"Don't worry Minerva, I don't think I'll be keeping this look for to long.  Hopefully this is just for the night.  I will be talking with the Weasley twins later this evening about their behaviour this past week.  I do enjoy their originality, but I don't quite appreciate the new look."  Dumbledore looked out into the crowd and focused his eyes on Fred Weasley who was in the middle of charming his carrot sticks to do a little dance on top of his brother Ron's head.  Much to Ron's dismay, he could not swat the sticks off.  Dumbledore just looked on and continued to talk with the other professors.

*            *            *

"Can you believe that Dumbledore didn't say a word about his hair in his lecture this evening?  You'd think the man would explain something like that to his students."  Ron continued on down the hallway towards the Fat Lady who was waiting patiently to let the group of students in.

"I'm sure it's none of our business, Ron, what Dumbledore does with his looks."  Hermione slipped past him, gliding her hand along his lower back as she did so.  She looked over her shoulder at him and smiled.  "Reflections in the mist."  Hermione said, and with that the Fat Lady let the trio along with Ginny into the common room.

They took their seats on the sofas in front of the fireplace.  A light drizzle had started earlier that evening, making the castle damp and cold, but the light of the fire brought warmth to the Gryffindor common room.  Seamus, Dean and Neville walked over from the dorms entrance to join the group in front of the cozy fire.

"Hey guys, didn't see you at dinner.  Where'd you go and eat?"  Harry asked as Seamus made himself comfortable on the sofa next to Ginny.

"Ah, we went to Hogsmeade.  Thought we should go check out the Cauldron, get a round of drinks to celebrate my victory of making the team.  Couldn't  'ave done it without ol'Ginny here."  Seamus said patting Ginny on the thigh.  Harry glared at him as Ginny blushed at Seamus and smiled back at his touch.

"I tried to buy George one, but he wouldn't let me. Said he wasn't in the mood for socializing and moved on as soon as Ygraine walked in.  She let me buy her a drink.  I'm thinkin' George was a little upset with the outcome of today's tryouts.  But Ygraine, wow! That girl can fly, not to mention, she's quite the looker."

"Yeah, she's bloody amazing.  For someone who's been home schooled, she's a pretty good beater." Ron said.

"That's probably because she had a good teacher.  Her mother is Hilary Marcum."  Hermione pointed out as she folded her left leg under her, propping herself up into a more comfortable position in her chair.

"Really?  Her mother is The Hilary Marcum?  The one who is credited with over 3000 bludger hits?  The Hilary Marcum that was the biggest weapon the Oldham Miners has ever had in History? The Hilary Marcum is Ygraine's mum?"  Dean said sitting on the edge of his seat, practically panting at the thought of knowing someone famous in the Quidditch world.

"Yes.  Hilary Marcum is Ygraine's mum."  Hermione said rolling her eyes at the looks the boys were giving her.

"How did you find this out?  Did Ygraine tell you this?  She didn't tell any of us, and you sure don't follow Quidditch." Asked Ron.

"No, I haven't seen Ygraine since tryouts.  I actually learned this from Draco Malfoy."

"Malfoy!" Both Harry and Ron shouted.  "You learned this from Malfoy?  How often do you converse with our favourite enemy?"  Ron asked, obviously shaken at the idea that Hermione may be on regular terms with one of the biggest catches in the school.  Ron knew how all the girls would drool over Draco.  But everyone also knew how big of a prat he was, and yet all the girls still went for him.  He prayed Hermione didn't fall into the category with all the other girls at Hogwarts.

Ron had always known Hermione was different from all the other girls, but her talking civilly with Draco Malfoy had him questioning her at the at moment, not to mention was causing the bubbling rage that was boiling in the pit of his stomach.

Everyone in the common room stopped what ever they were doing to listen in on another one of the infamous Golden Trio arguments, and this time it was obvious what the subject of discussion was – Draco Malfoy.

"Yes, I was talking with Draco Malfoy.  And I'll be talking with him later tonight.  Do you have a problem with that?"

Everyone turned and looked at Ron and Harry, waiting for their response.

"Of course we have a problem with that.  It's Draco Malfoy.  Why in the hell would you want to talk to him?"  Harry and Ron both looked at her, standing up, trying to look intimidating.

Everyone focused on Hermione.  All the Gryffindors knew that now that the War was over, that Draco Malfoy was Harry's number one enemy, and that Ron just didn't like the guy. Plus, you normally didn't hear about a Gryffindor hanging out with a Slytherin.  Hermione looked at her friends.  Standing up from her chair, pushed the non-existent wrinkles from her pants away, looked at the rest of the students in the common room and started to walk away towards the dorm rooms.  "Apparently all of you people have forgotten that Malfoy and myself are Head Boy and Girl; we HAVE to talk to each other.  And it's not like I enjoy it."

Everyone in the room bought her excuse, except for Ron, Harry and most of all, herself.  She did enjoy talking to Draco Malfoy.  Although she hated to admit it, Draco had a presence about him, something she couldn't find in either Ron or Harry, or so she felt at that moment.  There was just something about him this year that had slightly changed her view of him.

'Ah, it's only because he hasn't been overly rude to me this year, but he's still arrogant and he's still him.'  Hermione continued up the stairs to her bedroom.  

When she had first learned that she wasn't going to be sharing a room with anyone that year she was a little disappointed, but right at that moment she was happy that one of the benefits of being Head Girl was to have her own private room.

Her room was filled with books, most of which were hers, but some of the shelves held books she had borrowed from the library.  Her room radiated warmth with the use of wood in the furniture.  The stone walls barely even peeked through all of the bookshelves that were in the room.  Her desk was already piled high with parchments, her golden feather pen lying on her latest work of fiction she was writing.  She loved sitting at her desk with her silver candelabra glowing with light from its five candles, her music playing lightly in the background; these things would always put her in the mood to write.  She also enjoyed the fact that she could listen to her Muggle music along with the music she would find in the wizarding world, because Sony had invented a player that would take both types of music. Hermione was quite pleased to have found out that Sony was a wizard company.

She had just taken a seat at her vanity when a knock came at her door.  "Hermione?"  She turned to look at her door.  Both Harry and Ron's heads were sticking in looking at her.

"What do you want?"

The two boys slinked into her room, closing the door behind them.  They both took a seat on her bed.

"Wow, your room is brilliant.  You have so many books in here – how do you find the time to talk to the ferret with all this reading?"  Ron asked as he got up to look at some of the books that lined her shelves.  Hermione glared at Ron, she was just about to say something in response to his comment when Harry caught her before she said anything stupid.

"Hermione – what I think Ron meant to say was that we're both sorry for making something out of nothing.  We know there is nothing going on between you and Malfoy, we just get a little over protective when he comes into the scene with our best friend."  Hermione looked at Harry who had made his way over to her, then she looked at Ron who was sitting on her bed, facing the door with his back to her.

"Yeah, Sorry.  I just don't like him.  Don't know why you'd want to talk to that prat anyways.  He only has two things to talk about, himself and how poor my family is."  The three of them were quiet.   Harry and Hermione just looked at each other, not sure what to say.  Harry just shrugged his shoulders.  Hermione got up from her chair and slowly headed towards her best friend sitting on the corner of her bed.  She'd had conversations with Ron that were serious, but he had never brought up his feelings so openly about the status of his family or how the words Draco said affected him.  Everyone knew that he'd get angry and try to hit Draco whenever he would comment on Ron's family, but they never figured the hurt actually stayed within him.

Hermione placed her arm around him and leaned her head on his shoulder.  "Ron, Malfoy only says those things to provoke you.  He doesn't really mean them, and even if he did we know it's only because of the way he was brought up.  He's just a sad, pathetic guy who is jealous of how wonderful and loving your family is.  He just wishes his family were as rich as yours."

Ron leaned his head down onto Hermione's and took his hand and caressed her cheek with it.  "Thanks, Hermione, but do you really have to talk to him?"

Hermione sat up and looked at Ron, then looked at Harry for support, but Harry had decided to leave this issue to the two of them.

"Ron – I'm Head Girl, he's Head Boy.  We have to talk to each other.  Even if we weren't, I'm allowed to talk to whomever I want – and that's that.  You and Harry should both know that the only relationship that I have with Malfoy is completely professional."

Hermione was standing up at this moment, trying to calm herself down.  "Now, if you two don't mind I have to get back into my uniform for my meeting with Dumbledore."  Her two best friends walked out of her room and back towards the common room.  Hermione closed the door and sank back into the pages of her fiction.

*            *            *

George returned to the Gryffindor common room in time to find out from his brother that they had a meeting with Dumbledore.  Fred had told him that this "appointment" was apparently about their behaviour this past week at school.  The boys had no idea what Dumbledore meant, and when they found out, they weren't too pleased.

"Honestly Professor Dumbledore, Fred and I haven't done any of those pranks."

Dumbledore had listed off a bunch of events that had transpired over the first week at school.  There had been, for starters, the disappearing Hogwarts Express, the break out of purple freckles, the mysterious trip up in Snape's classroom, which professor Snape was not slow at telling Dumbledore about, the furniture in the teacher's lounge that had sprung to life anytime someone would take a seat or touch it, and not to mention Dumbledore's new look.

"Now boys, I understand that you run a joke shop, and I applaud you for all of your accomplishments and inventions, but when they start to disrupt the school and the teaching of the students, I can't say that I quite appreciate them.  Professor Flitwick has mentioned that he wishes you two could do as well on your charms in class as the ones that you perform for your pranks.  If another joke occurs I will have to put you in detention.  Am I clear?"

"But Sir-" Fred broke in.

"Am I clear, Fred and George?  No more mishaps.  I'd hate to see two of my more inventive and smarter students leave Hogwarts a second time because of their extracurricular activities."

The twins looked at each other and mumbled under their breath, "Yes Professor."

_*_          *            *

            Outside the entrance to the headmaster's office Draco Malfoy leaned against the giant griffin protecting the door.  He stood as though nothing in the world mattered but himself.  His hair had fallen over his blue eyes; he looked at his meticulously clean fingernails and paid little attention to his surroundings.  His other hand that was not being adored by its owner was shoved into his pants pocket with his school robes tucked behind it, exposing the fact that his crisp white shirt was not tucked in properly.  Although appearing perfect in almost every manner, Hermione Granger was happy to see that here was still a flaw to this boy's looks.

            She had been watching him from the shadows around the corner.  At first she didn't feel like talking with him after the conversation she had just had with Harry and Ron.  She could not forget the warmth that she felt from her friend Ron; even if he was upset with her, she could still feel his friendship and loyalty to her sink through his tough outer shell.  She smiled to herself.  After a few seconds of standing back from a possible conversation she had started to look at Draco Malfoy.  To be able to see him when he wasn't talking to anyone, being by himself was interesting to Hermione.  She saw, that even on his own he was still arrogant and full of himself, making sure that his hands were perfectly groomed.  Hermione secretly giggled as she thought of how silly she was at how she could have possibly been in the slightest bit attracted to the young man. 'It was only because he was beautiful,' Hermione though, 'There is obviously nothing else to this guy but his looks; even when alone he can't get rid of the typical Malfoy air around him.'

            Then much to her surprise, from inside his pocket he pulled out a little book that he zapped to become larger and began to read as he waited.  Hermione looked on and studied Draco from afar, watching as he would lick his finger to turn the dry pages, how he used a bookmark instead of dog-earring the pages, how he would laugh to himself when he read something funny within the pages.  Draco just leaned on the griffin and continued to read, not knowing that someone was admiring him from the shadows of the hallway.  The griffin turned and surprised Draco as he fell to the ground, hitting his backside hard.

            "Need a hand?" Hermione stepped out of the shadows and put out her hand to help the fallen student up.  Draco hesitatingly raised his hand and placed it in hers.

            "Proposing already Malfoy?  Thought the Head Boy typically waited to the end of the school year to propose to the Head Girl?"  George said as he and Fred made there way down the stairs to a kneeling Draco with his hand in Hermione's.  She quickly helped him up.

            "No, I was just getting up, thank you.  And you don't have to worry about Granger and myself.  We will not be the stereotypical Head Boy/Head Girl couple if Granger has anything to do with it."  Draco let go of Hermione's hand.  "Now, if you'll excuse me, Weasels, I have an important meeting with the Headmaster.  Granger?" And he pushed himself past the twins and made his way up the stairs.

            "Not a word of the to anyone, boys.  Especially Ron and Harry.  We just got in an argument earlier this evening regarding Malfoy.  I honestly don't know why though, there is nothing going on between myself and Malfoy and the boys have it in their heads that there is."  Hermione headed up the stairs after Malfoy as the twins turned and headed back towards the Gryffindor common room, not believing a single word Hermione had just said.


	6. Chapter 6: A Chance Meeting

AN: I do not own anything that is found within the Harry Potter series.  This is a complete work of fiction and I appreciate reviews and criticism as long as it's constructive. R&R

Cheers.

Chapter 6: A Chance Meeting

Dumbledore's office was framed with the many portraits of Headmasters of past.  Most of them were sipping away on tea, conversing with each other, often pointing at and questioning Dumbledore's hair colour.  They could not understand why he would keep the hair colour when he could just charm it away.  They also questioned him on his abilities to be a Headmaster for one of the most prestigious schools for Wizards and Witches in the world.  How could he let those Weasley twins get away with practically tearing apart the school with their teacher's lounge prank?

It had been quite funny for some of the past professors to watch because the paintings they were in were placed on walls of the lounge that were not affected by the beastly furniture.  A few of the other paintings and many current professors didn't find the incident as humourous.  The first professor to experience a ride on one of the bucking bronco chairs was Professor Sprout. She had lasted almost two minutes on the wild chair before Professor Flitwick had charmed the chair to stop, only to have him lean on one of the tables which instantly moved out of the way, allowing him to fall right onto the floor.  It was a good thing for him that he was so short.  As other professors entered, coffee mugs and teacups would keep moving just as they would reach for them, teasing them with their wonderful aroma.  Some of the books, once the shelves were touched, started to fly, knocking some of the paintings off the walls and bumping into professors.  It was this incident that did not have some of the Headmasters of the past in a very pleasant mood.

Draco, who was being followed by Hermione, entered the Headmaster's office, to find Dumbledore waiting for them.  He was standing beside Fawkes, who at this point was back in the equivalent of his teenage years.  Dumbledore turned away from Fawkes and headed towards his lounge and took a seat in his big, brown, leather chair.  The chair was obviously old and used very often, as there were strains in the seat of the chair, outlining the professor's favorite position.  He motioned for the two Head students to take a seat on the leather sofa in front of him, which was sitting across from the fire place that glowed red and yellow onto the quiet room.  All of the portraits of past professors stopped to listen in on what the headmaster and his two student spies were going to talk about.

Hermione and Draco sat down as far away from each other as possible when the took their seats on the sofa; they did not look at each other, but rather they focused all of their attention on Dumbledore, who was taking his time starting the conversation.  He just let the three of them sit there in silence for the first few minutes, allowing everyone to collect their thoughts.

Draco was becoming impatient.  He no longer was sitting with the perfect posture his father had taught him was always important when meeting with one's superior.  Draco had learned at an early age that one should almost fear those superior to a Malfoy because there were very few who were. Right now, Dumbledore was not giving the air of a superior in Draco's estimation, so he leaned on the arm of the sofa and looked away from the waiting Professor.  He looked into the fire and got lost in the flames, thinking of _her_, sitting beside him, only a few feet away, not even noticing him.

Draco was unsure of one thing in his life at that moment, and that was why Hermione Granger could affect him when she never had before.  He'd even loathed her when they were in their first year, how she would act superior to him, a Malfoy, because she was smarter than he was.  The nerve she had, sticking her nose up at him.  And now, ever since bumping into her at the train station and finding out that she was the other Head student, he had changed his opinion slightly.  She was now his equal at school (he was still a Malfoy so that put him higher up socially, but there at Hogwarts she was his equal) and he didn't like to admit it, and her being in that position was bothering him.  He knew that if it were any other girl in the school he would have them twisted around his baby finger, but Hermione Granger was not like the other girls.  She practically ignored him, except for when it came to the meetings they had with Dumbledore or any of the other professors.  She was a challenge, and Malfoys always enjoyed a challenge.  But he wasn't thinking about her only because she was a challenge for him, but also because he was curious about her.  She was a closed book to him, with hundreds of unread pages.  Draco had always been able to read people, figure out what buttons to push, and know everything about them, but Hermione was just a smart, daring, sexy, and not to mention his enemy's best friend, he knew nothing else of her other than that she was a mudblood. He had never paid much attention to her or her looks because he could have any girl he wanted in the school and he didn't really care to have what he considered Potter's and Weasley's sloppy seconds. But this year he wanted to see what she tasted like, to see if he could turn her pages, and so he had decided on the train to his last year at Hogwarts that he would crack open the pages of one of the hardest books to grace Hogwarts, and unfortunately he realized that he would become a total cliché trying to do it, Head Boy and Head girl, yuck.

"Albus, I think you've lost one of your spies to the fire."  Headmistress Dilys Derwent spoke out from the painting by the hearth. 

"Thank you, Dilys.  Mr. Malfoy – could you please focus on the discussion?  I was just mentioning to you both, Ms. Granger, I hope you don't mind the repeat-" Dumbledore looked at Hermione who was still sitting up straight in her corner of the leather sofa.

"No Professor, it's always beneficial to hear instructions a second time, that way you know you understood them properly."  She smiled at Dumbledore then glanced towards Draco, who was undoubtedly rolling his eyes at her.

'What a suck up,' he thought to himself and turned his attention to the waiting Headmaster. "You may continue professor – I'm paying attention now."

"As I was saying, I had just talked with the Weasley twins about their behaviour and I want you two to keep an eye out on them.  Also, I would like you to keep track of any student that appears to be out of place or suspicious.  The twins had mentioned that they weren't the one's performing these pranks, but it's hard to believe them with their track record, so they've been told that they will face a detention if there are any more pranks.  If it isn't them, I can assure you they will help find the student or students who are responsible for this," he pulled on his beard.  "And they will tell me who it is, and then I will forgive them of any punitive measures.  But as it stands now, the Weasley twins are the main culprits.  So please keep an eye on them, you can even let them know, if you choose, that I've told you to look over them, but please keep an open mind, as I have not been very good with that regarding these incidences.  I believe with the things that went on during the war, it may have clouded over my empathy for my students and be wary of unusual events. Or perhaps it is just my hair colour."  Dumbledore let out a strained chuckle and looked out past his students at the picture of him and some of his fallen comrades.

"Now that's all I really have to say to the both of you – Ms. Granger, I need a word with you, Mr. Malfoy you may leave to do your rounds or head back to your dormitory."

Hermione looked over at Draco, who had a puzzled look on his face, wondering why he was being excluded from the next conversation.  She only gave him a hint of a smile and that sent his pulse racing.  As he passed in front of her to he out of the office he looked down at her, keeping a straight face, not showing any emotion as she looked up at him, their eyes connecting, and then he looked away and headed out of the Headmaster's office.  Dumbledore just looked on pretending not to feel the chemistry churning in the air.

"Ms. Granger," she turned towards him, "I just want to ask you a favour.  You know of Ygraine Marcum, am I right?" Hermione nodded her head, puzzled. "Well, she's here for her final year of school because she chose to be here, and not be home schooled anymore.  This will be the first place that she has lived in for more than three months at a time.  I've noticed that she hasn't really been conversing with very many students.  She's been keeping to herself mostly, and I just want her to have a good experience here at Hogwarts.  I've had some wonderful conversations with her, as have some of the other professors.  She's quite a brilliant young lady, and I know the two of you would get along splendidly.  I know that she made the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and that will bring her out a little bit, but I was wondering if you could get her more involved in the student community, so that she is not spending all of her time with the professors in the lounge.  Bring her into your group of friends, introduce her to what it is like to be a student at a school, as she's only ever really spent her time with adults."  Dumbledore was genuinely concerned for Ygraine, and Hermione was happy to accept.

"Sir, I have no problem helping Ygraine get acquainted with students here at Hogwarts, but does she know that you've asked me this?"

 Dumbledore looked at Hermione and then turned his attention to the dancing flames in the fireplace.  "No, I have not.  You may mention it if you wish.  Have a good evening Ms. Granger, and I will see you in the Great Hall tomorrow morning."  Dumbledore looked back at Hermione and smiled at her as she headed towards the door to his office.  "Ms. Granger?  Is something bothering you about what I have said this evening?"  Dumbledore could tell something was on Hermione's mind as her shoulders were hunched.  She turned and faced the professor, standing in the doorway.

"Professor Dumbledore, I don't mean to speak poorly against your judgment, but if the twins say they didn't do it, why didn't you believe them?"  Hermione was slightly flushed.  She had been thinking about what Dumbledore had said earlier, and although the twins do make fun of her at times, she knew they were honest guys.

"Ms. Granger, I would like to believe them but their track records give me no proof to believe them."

"But Sir, no offense to them, they're not that good at charms; they deal mainly with potions."

"Yes Ms. Granger, that is true." A twinkle came to Dumbledore's eyes, showing the laughter within him, remembering the first year the twins had come walking through the doors of Hogwarts.  He knew as soon as they entered that they would keep him on his toes; never had he ever sent so many letters home to a single parent.  "Professor Flitwick and I have discussed this issue at some length, and hopefully we'll figure out how they could possibly perform such advanced charms, when they are only pulling off overage marks in class.  That is the one thing that makes me question if it is them.  But as it stands now, all other evidence points towards them.  But I am sure that I can count on you to keep an open mind as well as eyes for me." He smiled at her.

"Have a good evening, Professor Dumbledore."

"You too Ms. Granger.  And could you pass that message onto Mr. Malfoy when you get down the stairs?  Good Night."

Hermione stood there shocked for a few seconds.  Was Draco really down the stairs, waiting for her. Or was Dumbledore teasing her because he had felt the tension in the air?  He couldn't be poking fun at her because Dumbledore was not that kind of man, or was he?  She quickly hurried down the stairs to see if Dumbledore was right.  She slowed up as she got to the bottom, as not to surprise anyone who could be down there.

She looked out into the empty hallway, Draco had not been waiting for her, Dumbledore had just been making fun.  A sigh escaped from her lips, and she caught herself off guard.  She had actually been hoping that Draco was waiting for her.  She stepped off the bottom stair only to slip on something and fall.  She looked over from where she was sitting to find the book that Draco had been reading before the griffin had moved, pushing him over.  She sat there in her fallen position, holding onto the book as she felt the pain shooting up her backside; she knew there would definitely be a bruise there tomorrow.  She almost felt like crying – today had just been long, tiring and not to mention confusing.  

She looked down at the book she was holding, to see what Draco had been reading when she was watching him.  She giggled when she read the title _The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the witch and the Wardrobe_.  The book looked old and very loved.  Hermione had read the series as a young child, and her parents had even let her stay up late one night to watch the BBC production of it on television.  She laughed at how when she was a child, not knowing what she was destined to be, that she had hated witches and had said that she would never be fooled by one, like some of the children in the book.  From that, Hermione had become who she is, one of the smartest witches out there.  She laughed at the memory. "Ouch," she said to herself out loud, her laughter had her shaking, her bottom not appreciating the pressure being put on it.

"Need a hand?"

Hermione looked up into Draco's eyes, having a sense on _déjà vue_, only the roles had been reversed.  She gave him her hand and he helped her up.

"Thanks, Malfoy."  Draco simply just smiled at her and gestured for his book back.  She looked at him as he cast the Reducio charm on it to make it small once again, and slipped it into his pocket.

"Dumbledore says 'Good evening' to you."  Hermione said over her shoulder as she headed down the hallway to start her trip back to the Gryffindor tower.

"Does he now?  And what else did our dear, old, Headmaster have to say?  Why did he keep you behind?  Not writing your essays in the right colour of ink?"  Draco said as he caught up to Hermione, walking along side her, stealing some glances at her face as she walked on, trying not to look at him.

"Nothing in particular, I just brought up my concerns about the twins.  I personally believe them when they say they didn't do it.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm turning that way?"  Hermione pointed down the hallway that led to the library.  She figured she'd take a detour to the tower and pick something up to read before she went to bed.  She picked up her pace as she moved past Draco.

"Granger – do you have a problem with me walking with you?  Or are you afraid we'll bump into your two boyfriends?  You really should just pick one guy to be with.  It's not good to tease."

Hermione stopped in her tracks, Draco bumping into her.  She quickly moved aside, glaring at him.

"Granger, you really do have an attitude problem.  You would look much prettier if you kept that sour expression off of your face.  I thought Gryffindors were supposed to be the nice ones."  Draco moved ahead of Hermione and held the library door open for her.  Hermione paused and looked at him.

"The Hufflepuffs are the nice ones, Gryffindors are loyal and brave.  Are you actually being a gentleman for once, or are you coming in?"  Draco smiled at her. 

"I'm coming in. You just happened to barge your way in first."  As he followed her into the quiet library, only a couple students from Ravenclaw could be seen studying away at the tables.  Hermione went in search of a book to read that night.

She walked up and down the aisles in the library, not sure of what she wanted to read.  She looked at the titles of the books as she skimmed past them, trying not to think of Draco, who was leaning on one of the shelves reading his book, not even glancing over at her.  One minute he'd be insulting or rude to her and then the next second it would almost seem as though he was paying her a compliment.  They had only been at school one week and already Draco was bothering her.  She figured she could either completely ignore him, which would be impossible, or just see what happens.  She then realized that she wasn't even looking at the books anymore, but peeking through the shelves at Draco reading.  She shook her head and grabbed the book that was right in front of her, not even looking at what she had grabbed.

She signed the book out and headed out the doors of the library, and decided to wait and see if he came after her.  She stood against the wall as he came out of the doors.

"Malfoy, are you following me?"  Hermione stepped away from the wall and moved towards Draco.

"And if I am?"  He smiled at her, cocking his left eyebrow as he moved closer.

"Then I'd say, if you want to walk with me, you just have to ask.   That way I wouldn't have to tell everyone that Draco Malfoy is my stalker."  Hermione smiled at him and started to head down the corridor.  Draco stood there looking at her as she walked away.  This girl was too much for him; one minute she was biting his head off then the next the epitome of perfection.  He shivered at that moment as the thought of her being just like him crossed his mind.  He shook his head, disagreeing with himself; the two of them were alike but not the same: she did everything because it was good and right, and he did things because he felt like it.

Hermione turned and looked at the confused Draco.  "Are you coming?"  Draco dashed up beside her and looked at her as she continued on in silence.  He looked down and saw the book that she was carrying was _A History of Advanced Spells for the Gifted_.  He shook it off and looked back at her as they did their rounds in complete silence.  Nothing needed to be said; they both knew if either of them were to say something it would all be ruined, that them walking together would be awkward and not right, so they just enjoyed each others company in silence, the only way they could enjoy it.

They headed down a torch lit hall; unlike many of the other places in Hogwarts, the walls were bare of any portraits or paintings, but did have windows that looked out onto the school grounds.  The night sky was clear, the signs of the zodiac evident.  The full moon lighting up the hallway, and yet the two of them were still quiet, not for lack of things to say, but instead silenced by the fear of what they might say.

"Ygraine?"  Hermione was startled at the sound of Draco's voice as he broke the silence and looked at the tall girl who was sitting on the ground, headphones in her ears, quill taping on what appeared to be a journal, not even noticing the two Head Students walking towards her.  The two of them stood in front of her, watching her tap away to the beat, her eyes closed and the music filling the air with its sound.

Draco reached down and tapped her on the shoulder.  Surprisingly enough, to them at least, she did not jump from fright. Ygraine just opened her eyes, looked at them and smiled.

"Evening Draco, how are you?  It's Hermione, right?  How you doing?"  Hermione was surprised that the girl was unsure of who she was, and knew Draco by his first name.

"Yes, it's Hermione.  You've got an interesting name, just as I have.  Doesn't Ygraine come from Arthurian Legend, mother of King Arthur?"

Ygraine smiled up at her, as not many people had ever been able to place where her name came from.

"Yeah, she's King Arthur's mum.  Isn't your name from Shakespeare's _The Winter Tale_?" __

Draco rolled his eyes.  He was standing with possibly the two hottest girls in school and they were discussing history and literature.  Great, all the school needed was another know-it-all-Granger.  Then Draco smiled, as he realized what he had just thought, if Granger was just like him, and Ygraine was like Granger, then put him in a hallway all by himself with the two of them . . . life was looking good.

"So, what are you doing out here anyways?  Don't you have a common room to work in?"  Draco interrupted.  The two girls just ignored him.  For five minutes, he stood there looking at the two of them chatter away.  They were talking so fast and an insanely intellectual conversation was going on.  He himself could hardly follow what they were talking about, but then again, they were female.

"Did your parents prefer the work of Mallory's _Le Morte D'Arthur_, Tennyson's _Idylls of the King_, or my personal favorite, Bradley's _The Mists of Avalon_?"

Draco just stood there.  No girl had ever ignored him before and now there were two, right in front of him, doing just that.  He couldn't have been happier to be in an empty hallway at night, no other students around to witness this embarrassing event.

"Don't you just hate how our parents named us after mothers rather then heroines?"  Hermione asked Ygraine as they started to walk down the hall to head back to the Gryffindor house, leaving Draco behind.

"Yes.  That's why I have to live a great and crazy adventurous life – I have to be the heroine this time.  Wouldn't you…oops, we forgot Draco.  Hey Draco – you coming or are you going to stay there watching our fine asses walk away?

Draco was dazed; had Ygraine just blatantly pointed out to Hermione what he was doing?  He had indeed been checking them out as they walked away; who wouldn't? They had beautiful backsides, but he had also been standing there because they had taken off without him.  He wasn't used to being forgotten.

He looked back at them, Hermione in her uniform, her robes hiding her potential, but he was able to see what Ygraine had to offer.  Her white and maroon muggle sporting shirt with the number 33 on it clung to her body in all the right spots.  Her low-rider jeans were just low enough to send Draco's imagination into a spin: a school girl and a sporty girl, what guy wouldn't want to see that in front of him?  As he walked to catch up to them, he got a better view of their backsides and noticed the small tattoo on Ygraine's lower back.

"Is that a raven?"  Draco asked, pointing towards the intricate Celtic knots that flew off her back.

"It is, nice of you to join us."  Ygraine smiled at him.

The three of them walked a long the hallways, Hermione and Draco gave Ygraine the ten cent tour of the school, showing her all of the short cuts to the classrooms, with Draco walking between the two girls.

Ygraine had been able to feel it as they walked around the grounds, the tension that was between Hermione and Draco.  The way he kept looking at her when she talked, how she would blush if his hand would accidentally brush up against her.  Ygraine had to keep herself from saying something on the matter or laughing because the two of them were acting like total five year olds in a sandbox.

"So did Dumbledore explain his hair to you, Granger?"  This had caught Ygraine's attention as she listened in on as they headed up the moving staircases.

"No, he didn't.  The pink beard was out there, but I don't understand why his hair was blue.  Shouldn't the beard and hair match?"

"His hair was blue?  I knew about the pink beard, but blue hair? This school really does have a strange Headmaster," Ygraine said, falling behind as the staircase narrowed.

"Oh, were you not at dinner when Professor Dumbledore showed up?  He seemed perfectly calm about the whole situation.  The poor Weasley twins, they got blamed for it later. Probably would have had points taken away, but someone did that earlier."  Hermione pointed out as she moved ahead, glaring at Draco, as the three of them walked in single file, climbing up the stairs that led to the opposite end of the hallway with the Fat Lady.

"The twins got blamed?  Do you know if they did it?  I know that George told me that he and his brother do that sort of thing, but would they honestly do something to the Headmaster?"

"No, I don't think they would, but that doesn't really matter with their track record.  Apparently, the next time it happens, they'll get detention."  Hermione said as the three of them took a seat on one of the old benches that lined the hallway.

"I'd hate to be them,' was all that Ygraine could say as she looked across at the painting of an old man sleeping in his chair, his head propped up by his hand.

"Well, I should be off.  Wouldn't want your boyfriends Potter and Weasley Jr. to show up and throw a hissy fit at me being here with you.  Night 'Graine, Granger."  Draco took off down the hallway, brushing Hermione's leg with his hand as he passed by.  The two girls waited long enough for Draco not to be able to see that they were sitting only a few feet away from the Gryffindor entrance.

They walked up to the Fat Lady. "Reflections in the Mist."  The two of them said, as they entered the Gryffindor common room.

"He was totally macking on you, Hermione."  Ygraine said as she made her way over to the fire.

"He was not!"  Hermione protested as she headed after Ygraine to take a seat at the sofa, trying not to raise her voice and draw attention to the two of them.  "What's macking?"

"It's a word I learned when traveling around Canada.  It means hitting on, or flirting with.  Macking on someone.  And Draco, was totally hitting on you."  Ygraine sat down in front of the fire sticking her hands out towards the flames to warm them.

"Who was hitting on Hermione?" Ron asked as he entered the common room with Harry and Ginny close behind.

"Oh, just this first year we bumped into at the library.  You can tell that kid's going be trouble, sucking up to the Head Girl already."  Ygraine said, covering for Hermione since she could obviously see the panic within her eyes.  She made a mental note to ask why later. The boys joined them and laughed at the false story Ygraine told them, Hermione elaborating pieces into the false stories fire.


	7. Chapter 7: Let It Begin

AN: I do not own the rights to use Harry Potter. Please Read and Review, I like hearing feedback, and will take criticism as long as it's constructive.

Chapter 7:  Let It Begin

The crowd could still be heard as the team walked away from the field. "Weasley is our King/ Weasley can save anything/ He never leaves a single ring/ That's why Gryffindors all sing/ Weasley is our King!"  Then they would all cheer out the names of the Harry, Ginny, Fred, Ygraine, Seamus and Liam, trying to figure out how to include them into the kingly song, as this game was a showcase of everyone on the team's talent.

            Almost everyone in the school had been at the Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw match, where Gryffindor had reigned superiority over the Quaffle, Bludger and Snitch, with a winning score of 300-0.  Not only had they scored 15 goals and caught the Snitch, the defense team was on fire.  Ron had blocked every shot. Fred and Ygraine had rebounded each other's hits, sending Ravenclaw players flying in every direction.  The Ravenclaw's new Seeker, now that Cho was gone, had even almost caught the Snitch, which would have tied the game.  Harry had been right on the fourth year's tail, when a Bludger sent by Ygraine had allowed Harry that extra leverage to catch the Snitch, as the girl had only been a foot in front of him before she had been sent falling with a hit, the Snitch not in hand.

            "That game was fucking marvelous!  I don't think I've even seen a football match where I was sitting so far off my seat.  Hell, I was standing most of the time, the game was so busy!"  Dean said as he greeted his friends who were all congratulating each other in the changing room.  Neville and Hermione followed right behind him, Hermione going up to Ron and Harry to give them both a victory hug.

            "Ew, you two really need to shower before you come back to the common room for a party.  In fact, all of you do, this room reeks of sweat – and victory!"  They all cheered and headed to their separate areas to shower.

            Professor McGonagall entered, the biggest smile on her face.  "What brilliant strategies you had out there.  Harry – the plays you came up with!  I must say you guys have worn the Ravenclaws out.  I'm sure the Slytherins are terrified of what you'll do to them.  I just thought I would tell you all, I've ordered a round of butter beer for the Gryffindor house in celebration of our victory.  Unfortunately for me, I will no be able to attend our little soirée.  You'd probably enjoy it more without me anyhow.  Once again, congratulations and I will all see you at a later time.  Cheers."  The team all smiled and thanked McGonagall as she left the change room to the team and their friends.

            "What she say 'Mione?  Couldn't hear her right, she say that she got us all some butter beer?"  Ron walked over to Hermione, white towel wrapped around his waist, water dripping down his chiseled chest and tight stomach, his hands tussling his red hair with his other towel.  Hermione could not understand how Ron could look so amazingly sexy and built despite the amount of food he put in his mouth every day.  She looked him over, feeling a little flush as he wrapped his clean arm around her shoulders, turning his face to look at her with his questioning, stomach hungry, goofy smile. 

"Jeez Ron, you're getting me all wet!"  Hermione mock-screamed at him, as she pushed his dripping body away with her hands on his bare chest.

"Glad to know my half-naked body can do that to you; wait until you see the full thing!"  Ron smiled at her, giving a chuckle as Hermione pouted her lips at him with a jokingly disgusted look on her face.

"Ron."  She rolled her eyes at him.  "Oh my GOD! Stop it!"  Ron had come up to her and started to shake his wet hair all over her, rubbing his head into her school robes.  She started laughing, trying hard to push her best friend away.  "Stop it!  You're getting water all over me!  Ygraine?  Anybody?  Help!"  Everyone just looked on, ignoring the two kids, who were obviously enjoying themselves.  Ron twisted up his hair towel and slapped Hermione across the ass with it as she tried running away.

"Ouch.  Cut it out Ron… or I'll," Hermione said, facing Ron who was preparing his towel for another hit.

"Or you'll what?"  Ron smiled at her, almost laughing, everyone watching the two of them go at each other.

"Oh, I don't know – you know I wont take points away from my own house."  A hush went over the change room.

"You wont take points away from your own house, eh?"  Fred asked, thoughts running wildly through his mind, ideas of things he had to tell George once he saw him.

"Well, you know what I mean.  I don't want to have take points away from my house."  She looked around at everyone, they did not seem convinced.  "Ok, I won't take points away from Gryffindor.  Now you know, just don't tell anyone.  And Fred, don't tell George, because he'll just go crazy around me. Who knows what he'll throw in my bed?"  They all nodded in agreement with Hermione; Fred, while doing so, also had the most devilish look spreading across his face. Ygraine looked at him, questioning what was possibly going on through his practical mind.

"Speaking of my brother George, where is he?  Did anyone see him at the game?"  Ginny asked moving around the room to see if George was hiding anywhere, as he had the habit of doing so.

"I didn't see him – Dean?"  Hermione asked Dean who was standing with Ygraine and Seamus.

"No, didn't see him in the Gryffindor seats; then again, I wasn't looking for him."

*            *            *

George was sitting in the common room alone, reading a book in front of the unlit fireplace.  He was curled up in the corner of the sofa, his back resting on the arm, his feet up on the cushions, his book on Transfiguration resting on his knees.  He had wanted to go to the Quidditch game because he loved the sport, but his bitterness towards Harry and Ygraine had kept him away from the game, and the practices before that.  He had tried to go to the practices but had only made it onto the pitch once, his pride and ego taking over.  He was supposed to be the beater for the Gryffindor team, not a spare player who only plays at the practices; he was just too good for that. He felt that he should be the one playing and Ygraine should be the extra beater.  He just got further and further away from the pitch every time he attempted to join a practice, and now, with the first Quidditch game for Gryffindor, he found himself doing homework instead.

Students started to pile into the common room, all with happy faces and talking spastically about the remarkable game they had just witnessed.  George felt a lump of guilt forming in his stomach; he knew his siblings and friends would be upset with him.

"No, Seamus, I will not lend you my Head Girl badge for your Halloween costume."  Hermione and the gang came bursting though the common room door.

"Please, Hermione?  Ygraine has already agreed to let me use her uniform – and my costume just wont be complete without it!"  Seamus pleaded and begged Hermione, tugging on her robes, trying to get her to say yes.

"Wrinkling my school robes will not get me to lend you my badge, Seamus.  Bugger off, will you."  Seamus still clung to Hermione's robes.  "Fine, stay attached, you still wont get the badge.  I'm going down to the kitchen to see if I can ask the house elves to send up some food for the party."  The two students headed back out into the corridor to go find the pear and tickle it to see what snacks they could find.

As they headed out, everyone else pilled into the room, awaiting the rest of the Gryffindor team.  George tried to slink his way out of the common room, not wanting to face the reason for the boiling guilt and rage within him.

"Oy – George!"  Neville called out towards him before he could disappear among the crowd of Gryffindor students.

"Hey, Neville."  George said, slinking over to his friend's side to have the conversation he didn't want to have, in fear of the question he didn't want to answer.

"Didn't see you at the game today.  How come?"  There it was; Neville had just asked him, and he knew the attention would be focused upon him.  He normally liked the spotlight, but lately he hadn't wanted it, and right now was the prime example.  He knew he was in the wrong, and he didn't want a whole bunch of people pointing it out.

"I didn't want to go."  He mumbled under his breath.

"Sorry, what did you say?"  Fred asked, "Couldn't hear you through your pathetic mumbling."

"I said, I didn't want to go, ok?"  George tried to leave but Ginny and Harry were blocking him.

"Why didn't you want to come and see us play George?  We won, you know."  Ginny seemed upset with her older brother; George couldn't stand to look at her.  He glanced over at Harry, who was glaring at him. He couldn't tell if it was because he had missed the game or because he had hurt his sister.  He turned and looked at the rest of the team; Ygraine was pretending not to pay attention, just standing behind Dean.

"Look, I'm sorry."  George said insincerely.

"Yeah, sure you are."  Ygraine had let the words slip right out of her mouth.  She didn't want to butt into the discussion; she knew it wasn't her place, but she had been hurt as well by George not showing up.  Not only had he almost completely ignored her from the moment that she had made the team, but the times that he did pay any attention to her, he had just tried to make things uncomfortable for the both of them.  Their first week at Hogwarts had seemed to show potential for their friendship, but things had just gone downhill.  Fred had assured her that his brother would be back to flirting with her in a week, but he hadn't.  He had completely changed, and she wasn't the only person to have noticed.  He had also turned a bit cold towards Harry.  All of these feelings had just taken over, and she had let it slip, and regretted not biting down on her tongue.

"And what makes you the authority to say whether I'm sorry or not Ygraine?"  George spat back at her.

"I'm just saying that it's obvious that you're not sorry for missing the game.  The team isn't oblivious to why you didn't want to come."  Everyone in the common room had now turned all of their attention to the two tall red heads standing near the fireplace.

"Oh yeah?  And why is that, Fred? Ginny? Ron… Harry?"  He glared at Harry, who was standing near his little sister.  "Why didn't I come to the game?"  George looked around at all of them, ending with his look upon Ygraine.

"George, don't." Ginny pleaded, knowing how her brother would get when upset or provoked.  The Weasleys were people who had tempers, and they weren't easy to calm if things got to far, and she knew that both George and Ygraine would regret this conversation later.  She touched him on the shoulder, in order to give some comfort, but he just shrugged her off, pulling himself away and out of her reach.  She knew then that it was too late.

"Your friends are just too nice to say it to you, George." Ygraine moved closer to him.  He leaned in and asked her, right to her face, "And what's that, Ygraine?"

"That you're acting like a sore loser.  That you can't get over the fact that someone else happened to be a better Beater than you."

"No, that's not why."  George protested, knowing full well that it was true.

"Then what is the reason George?  Cause it sure seems like it to me, and everyone else who is on the team, or who knows you for that matter.  Ever since the tryouts you have done nothing but act like a five year old.  You don't come to any of the practices; you don't show any support for the team, let alone your own family.  You just sit around and sulk all day.  Sure sounds like the signs of a sore loser to me.  Everyone has noticed.  You snap at anyone who mentions the words Quidditch around you; you have even walked away from conversations because your ego has been bruised.  Get over it and start acting like you used to."

Everyone looked at Ygraine in horror.  They had all wanted to say something to George along those lines, but they figured to maybe do it a little more privately.  They looked at George and waited for his response.

"Who do you think you are?  Coming into my life, into my school, taking my friends away, my position on the Quidditch, and my family!  Everyone knows that it has always been Fred and I who were the beaters for Gryffindor, not you and Fred, me and Fred – not you!"  George was yelling right into her face.  Everyone was paying so much attention to the two that they didn't even notice the butterbeer appear on the tables.  

"No George, everyone knows that it's me and Fred now, they were there to see it at the Quidditch game today – there were no protesters there cheering your name, they were cheering for everyone else.  Get over yourself and find something better to with your life then be jealous of me."

"Jealous of you?  How could I be jealous of you?  You're just a fucking Scot who has nothing to her but the fact that she has some ability at being a Beater."  George's comment had some of the Scottish students not voting in George's favour anymore.

"Well, obviously you're not even good enough to be a female Scottish beater, so why don't you go fuck yourself, and take the fucking Beater position on the team if you want it that way!"  Much to both of their surprises, the students in the room protested Ygraine's offer of George taking her spot.

"See, George, they want me there, not you.  So put this Beater business behind you and get on with your life.  I have, so should you-"

"Fine Seamus, I'll lend you my badge, but you have to promise-" Hermione and Seamus stopped in their tracks as they stepped through the portrait.

"Did we interrupt something?" Seamus looked at everyone who had turned their attention to the front entrance.  George looked at Hermione and Seamus.

"No, we were just finishing."  George said, moving through the small crowd towards the dormitory doors.  "Ygraine, consider yourself forewarned- I'm not going to just let this drop. I'm out of here."  And he huffed up the stairs.

"Fine, I will!"  She called after him.  "Ok, let's party.  We have a game to celebrate."  Ygraine said solemnly, taking her hair and fixing it into a messy bun, heading towards the table with all the food on it.  She grabbed some food randomly and shoved it into her mouth, chasing it back with some of the butterbeer.  It was obvious to everyone that she didn't want to acknowledge that she wanted to cry, they saw it through the excessive eating and the fake laughter as Ron and Seamus tried to cheer her up.

The party continued in a much quieter manner than they had hoped for after their win, but people moved on.  Fred sat in the corner, just pretending to listen to his friends, trying to figure out what his next actions were going to be.  


	8. Chapter 8: Fight or Flight

AN: I do not own the rights to use Harry Potter. Please Read and Review, I like hearing feedback, and will take criticism as long as it's constructive.

Chapter 8: Fight or Flight

Ygraine had only stayed at the Gryffindor party for a short while.  Her friends' attempts to cheer or console her weren't going over so well.  She didn't want their pity or sympathy.  In addition, she had felt bad for yelling at George and didn't want to hear everyone talking about it. She'd had company when Fred came over to sit by her, trying to escape the crowds of questioning students as well.  She thought that he'd be mad at her for spazzing out on his brother, but instead he told her he'd pass on her apology to George.  He too wished none of this had happened, but said, being a red head, he could understand how one's temper could flare and acknowledged that his sometimes got the better of him too.  She'd left the party soon after that, no longer wanting to pretend not to see the furtive glances and whispered conversations.  She took some food on a plate and decided to spend some time away from everyone and had headed up the dormitory stairs.

            She now sat on the top stone step heading to the 7th year dorms in the tower, the boys' to her left, the girls' to her right.  The staircase was narrow and only dimly lit with torches lighting the way to the rooms.  A window at the partition where she was sitting brought the light of the stars and the moon onto the little landing where she had taken her seat.  The old stonewalls were perspiring with the damp of the night, giving them the appearance of stones that glowed as the firelight flickered off the dew.  She sat on the cold stone step, her legs falling beneath her a few steps down, showing off the length of them as they stretched.  She placed her plate of food at her side, looking down at what she had chosen to eat.  Not feeling up for everything she had shoved onto it, she grabbed the cheese string and pulled it apart into many skinny strings.  Not expecting to find anyone coming up the stairs anytime soon, Ygraine began to charm her cheese string to fly around, making them braid together, to tie knots around the ones that flew too fast; she was having fun, playing with her food the way a little witch or wizard would only wish they knew how to do.  As cheese strings floated around, rebounding off the walls, Fred came up the stairs, not expecting to be hit by a piece of cheese while walking to his room.  Ygraine quickly grabbed her cheese from the air and placed it back on her plate with the little crackers marching in perfect formation, and shrugged as Fred stopped to look at her.  He smiled down at her and she smiled back.

            "I'm just-" Fred pointed towards the boys' dormitory where his brother would be hiding from the world.

            "No, no.  I know."  She moved aside and let Fred pass, turning back to her waiting food.

"Ygraine?"  Fred turned after a few steps up to the boys' dorms.  She looked up at him with her lonely blue eyes.  "You gonna be okay? – I just have to see George."

            "Fred, it's okay, he's your brother.  I understand.  I'm not trying to get your sympathy. I'm just here to eat my cheese without everyone looking at me like I'm the biggest bitch.  I mean, I know I can be, but I honestly just want to have fun with my cheese without people thinking I'm crazy too."  She smiled up at him; he looked down at her, amused, and felt the pull from his brother within himself.

            "It's not crazy, George and I do that stuff all the time, and no one down there thinks that you're a big bitch, just a little bitchy tonight.  But I'll catch you later.  Enjoy your cheese."  

Fred walked up the remaining stairs to find his brother strumming away on his guitar.  George looked up at his brother as he crossed the room towards him.

            "Hi," said George.

            "Hi."  

Fred walked over to his brother and sat beside him on the messy fitted bed, listening to his brother play away, the melancholy notes floating off his fingers.   They seemed perfectly at ease with each other at that moment in time.  Not talking, just listening to the music being played by George coming from the strings and hollowed wood.  Fred broke the rhythm.

            "You know she's sorry right?"  

            The music stopped.

            George did not look at his brother; instead, he continued to look out at the wall, ignoring his brother's comment, wishing nothing had been said now – and then.

*          *            *

"Can you believe that game?  I was so stressed out there.  I tell ya, if I didn't have that antiperspirant charm I would have been slipping off my broom!"  Seamus flopped himself down onto the overstuffed sofa beside Ginny in the Gryffindor common room.  Harry was sitting on her other side.

            "I don't know if I want you sitting beside me then!" Ginny pushed Seamus playfully away as she wrinkled her nose in disgust at the mention of sweat.  

            "You mean to tell me, you didn't feel like you should have been sweating buckets out there if it weren't for the genius of a charm Ygraine taught us at practice the other day?  Her mum must have taught her all the tricks, being a professional."  Seamus took a swig from his butter beer; the warm foam lining his lips gave him the appearances of a frothy mustache, something he wiped away quickly as Seamus secretly hoped a real one would never grow.

            "Ygraine taught you an antiperspirant charm?  What else has she taught you guys?"  Hermione broke away from the private conversation she and Ron were having on the overly large stuffed chair, her legs draped over him.  The two of them looked almost perfect sitting together, whispering back and forth to each other about the little nothings going on in their lives.  Not paying much attention to what their friends around them were saying, they had been off in their own little world.  Nothing much else mattered to the two of them when they could sit and talk to each other.  Ron had been in the middle of telling Hermione what had actually happened between his brother and Ygraine when Hermione heard Seamus mention Ygraine teaching them special charms.

            "Oh, she hasn't taught us that many.  Just what ever she felt could help the team legally.  We've definitely got a great advantage having her on the team.  It's just to bad about the twins being split up, eh?  I mean, it's kind of weird not having the two of them playing together, but I wouldn't trade Ygraine in, that's for sure."  Both Ginny and Ron glared at Seamus.

            "What?  It's true.  It's hard not seeing them play together, and I bet even harder on them, since they are so used to being a team. Now they're obvious individuals, and it's quite evident that this is getting to George.  I mean, that attitude affects the whole team.  I just wish I could have been here for the blow up between him and Ygraine; bet it was something to see.  The two of them seemed to be such nice people, off the Quidditch pitch anyways, not to mention the total sexual tension between the two of them, that probably helped with the built up emotion they let out, eh?  Love and hate, stem from the same beginning, don't they?"

            Everyone looked at Seamus who began to babble off about all of his observations of his friends and the people they all knew, including the alleged notorious Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger plot line.

            "Where are you coming up with this bullshit?"  Ron finally asked, cutting Seamus off, allowing him to forget his train of thought.

            "In class."  Seamus stated leaning back into the sofa, stretching his arm behind Ginny.  Harry's eyes caught this and for a moment it seemed they would shoot bullets at the Irishman.  Seamus moved his arm back to his side, not wanting to get into that territory.

            "That explains your grades or lack of O.W.L.S," Dean chipped in, slinking across the floor to reach up and snag a chocolate frog from the coffee table.  He went back down to the floor, stretching his body out on the red and yellow area rug that took up a good portion of the common room's living area in front of the fire place.  The group let out a small bubble of laughter; Seamus even let out a faint smile at the observation, knowing fully well that it was one of the main reasons for his not so perfect grades.

            "Where are you going?"  Ron felt the weight of Hermione's legs lift off of him as she got up from the big comfy chair everyone knew as theirs.  She stretched as she stood, as they had been seated there for quite sometime.

            "I'd love to stay and chat with all of you, but I have to go check up on Ygraine and then off to George, see how they're doing."  She started to walk towards the coffee table for one last snack.

            "Really, do you have to get into this one?  Don't think they need one of your lectures right now."  Ron said, holding Hermione's hand trying to pull her back down to stay with him and their friends.

            "I'm going as a friend Ron, not as Head Girl."  She gave him a quick smile and stepped over the lounging Dean, who turned over in time to try to and get a sneak peak up her skirt to see what was hiding under there.

            "Nice try Dean."  She quickly maneuvered herself out the way of his line of vision.

            "Can't knock a guy for trying.  Don't forget to fill us in after your conversation.  Can't miss out on another chapter of the Gryffindor Soap Opera."  Dean rolled back onto his stomach on the floor, plopping his elbows on the pillow Ron had chucked at him for trying to look up Hermione's skirt.  Hermione just shook her head and went towards the dorms, the rest of the gang just continued to discus the going ons of the students in Gryffindor.

*          *            *

            She had hoped that she would have bumped into Ygraine on her way up the dormitory stairs, as she knew the girl had a habit of sitting in staircases and hallways, but only came across some floating cheese strings and crackers that were dive bombing each other.  She watched the battle for food airspace for a few seconds, as the scene was quite interesting.  It wasn't everyday, even in the wizarding world, where one got to see food in combat action.  She stepped away from the twisting strings and crumbling crackers and headed up to the boy's dormitories; she'd deal with the dueling food later if Ygraine hadn't. (Might be an interesting scene to have Hermione come back and clean it up.  It presents a few possibilities.  If Hermione has a hard time unwinding the charm at first, it can rouse some suspicions.  Ygraine seeing that Hermione can undo the charm with relative ease would also be a nice place you could show her speculating on the kind of ally Hermione would make.  And we know Hermione's sneakier than the boys give her credit for- we just have to look to her fake crying scene with Umbridge for proof.)

*          *            *

            "What, is _she_ your twin now?"  George yelled at his brother as Fred turned to walk towards the window, allowing the space between them to widen.  The twins had been arguing almost the whole time Fred had been up there.  They were laying all their frustrations out on the table.  Almost two months of not really talking to one another had them fuming mad; both twins' tempers were flaring, each having good reasons to be angry.

            "What the hell kind of bullshit remark is that?  No, she's not my twin.  You are.  Fuck, you must be jealous of her, if your thinking shit like that up."  Both of their faces were red from yelling, and neither would back away from what they had started.  There had been attempts to apologize, then one of them would spit something rash out and the fighting would start up again.  Either Fred would say something about George holding everything back and not being the best at communicating or sharing with him since Quidditch tryouts, or George would once again spit out how everyone is against him and that _they_ are the ones who are not listening.

            "Why does everyone think I'm jealous of her?  She's the one who took my fucking spot on the team, and then all of you guys go and pity her because I called her a bitch afterwards.  You guys didn't come and talk to me afterwards, you all flocked to her side.  Not mine.  What the fuck's up with that?"

            "George, we came to you first.  Obviously you do not remember how we went after you as you stomped of the pitch.  You took yourself off the list.  We all tried to include you, but your fucking pride took over.  I'd try and talk to you.  Ron and Ginny took some attempts, Ygraine even tried.  But after awhile we got sick and tired of you brushing us off, then we started to see how you began to treat Ygraine, and we knew that something was definitely up, you would never be like that. I mean, fuck, you could do nothing but talk about the girl before she beat you out at the tryouts, everyone thought that you guys could have had something for each other, but now? Damn, I'd hate to be her right now.  You lost fair and square, and there is nothing you can do to change that. Ygraine was right; you should suck it up and get on with your life!  Yes, she was at fault for calling you on it, and was kinda bitchy in doing so, probably the Slytherin in her.  Even though you needed to be called on it, someone else who was closer to you should have done it, someone like myself.  I've realized my mistake and so has she, which is why she asked me to apologize to you on her behalf because she knew that you wouldn't listen to her.  She's sorry – and I hope that you can put you pride aside for five minutes and apologize to her yourself, because you're the one acting like the asshole now!" 

            George had had enough.  He was tired of having his brother defending Ygraine, even if he had admitted to him just then that he knew Ygraine was partially at fault.  But he knew it wasn't only because of Ygraine that he was mad, but he chose to use her as the escape and focus of all of his anger and feelings; it was just to easy to put it on her.  He leapt at his twin and they started to punch and jab at each other.

            Their fists were flying everywhere, landing on faces and pushing in stomachs.  It was a release of all their energy and emotions; they could feel themselves calming down within as the blood began to flow.

            "Oh my God!  What are you two doing?"  Get off of each other!"  Hermione grabbed her wand and blew the two boys apart, both of them landing with a hard thud on their backs.  George shot right up.

            "Fuck off, Hermione. And don't look at me like that; I'm not one of your projects."  George's nose was bleeding and his lip was split.  He shoved his way past the speechless Hermione as she looked at the battered twins. Fred looked about ready to pounce again.  George didn't even take the time to clean the blood off of his face as he stormed out of the dorm room.

            "What the hell was that Fred? Is that how you and George are solving things now?  Fist fights?"  Hermione offered Fred a tissue to wipe his bleeding nose and split lip even as she berated him.  Another part of her mind was analyzing the results of the fight.  She couldn't believe it: the twins had identical cuts, as though they were still physically the same person.  'Impossible,' she thought to herself.

            "Whoa, did I ever get a beating.  I deserved it though - and he fully deserved the ass-whooping I gave to him."  Fred's bleeding lips quirked into a smirk.

"Fred, I really should report a fight like this, but I'll let it pass in this case.  Just try to keep a low profile while your wounds heal – I don't want to find myself explaining the reasoning behind why you two aren't being punished for the fight."  Hermione walked over to Fred and took a better look at his scrapes.  "You really should see Madam Pompfry about those cuts.  The one on your lip looks pretty bad."

"Ah, they'll heal soon enough."  Fred licked some of the blood away.

"Fred, you should take this seriously."

"Sorry." 

Fred lowered his head and noticed a wooden bead on the floor beneath him.  "Shit, George's choker."  Fred began to crawl around on his hands and knees, looking for all the pieces of his brother's prized possession.  The beads were sprawled out all over the bedroom, some even stuck in the cracks of the old wood flooring of the bedrooms.  Fred tried to locate the main bead, the carved wooden Bludger.  The choker had been the first item that George had purchased from their very first sale at the store as a remembrance of all the hard work they had put into the place, and now what was left of it was spilled out on the dormitory floor.  It must have broken during their fight.

Fred found the Bludger; it was in three pieces, and there was no way a _Reparo_ charm would work on it.  He put all the beads and the broken carved Bludger into a little baggy and placed it on his brother's bedside table.

"I just hope he doesn't find Ygraine on the stairs right now.  That'd be hell."  Fred said, looking at Hermione who had been helping him find all the wooden beads.

"She wasn't there when I ran up.  Just a floating cheese battle." Hermione shot off a small smile at her friend.

"Yeah, she's got some pretty funny charms hidden up her sleeve.  It's too bad George hates her now, those two could have come up with some brilliant ideas."  Fred commented as he cleaned up the effects of the fight on the room.

"I don't think he really hates her."  Hermione said quietly to herself, picking up one of the pillows that had been thrown across the room.

Silence ensued as Hermione helped pick up the fallen-over chairs and the tussled bed sheets.  "Fred, you two aren't really the one's who pulled those pranks earlier?"  Hermione took a seat on Ron's bed, as she was accustomed to while visiting the 7th year boys' dorm room.

"No.  Does no one believe us?"

"Well, I figured that it could have been you because the pranks did stop after your talk with Dumbledore.  It only made sense, because, I mean, it's you and George."

"They did stop, but not because Dumbledore told us to.  We were here to finish school, not to look for free advertisement."

"That's good to hear.  I'm going to go find Ygraine, see what's up at her end.  And hopefully George will have had a good cool down before the two of them meet up tomorrow for class.  Should I be worried about something happening to you as you dream?"

"Ah, George wouldn't do something to me like that in my sleep, no matter how mad he gets at me; he knows I'd get back at him three times the fold.  Night 'Mione."

"Bye, Fred."  Hermione stepped out of the boys' dormitory and headed off to find Ygraine and hopefully to, at some point, have a civil conversation with George.

As she reached the landing she noticed that Ygraine had not come back to yet to clean up the cheese string vs. cracker war.  Crumbs were all over the place as the crackers had been taking quite the beating, as was evident with the cheese strings spelling out the word 'victory' as the crackers slowly landed back on the plate, slumping into the red jelly.   

Hermione took out her wand and tried to get the cheese strings back onto the plate, and nothing was working on them, as they kept flying at her whenever she would enter their airspace.  She decided she'd start with the crumbs on the floor from the stairs, since they'd be easier to charm onto the plate, a simple cleaning charm would do the trick, and the cheese would be unable to reach her from the stairs.  As the crumbs flew off of the stone floors and onto the plate Hermione tried her hardest to figure out what charm Ygraine had used to get the cheese stings to act like it did.  She got a few of the pieces to stop moving, but they were still floating around in the air.  She figured it might just be easier to freeze them all and then just grab them.  She started with the ones she had already stopped in the air.

"You have to get the captain cheese to stop if you want them all to go back onto the plate.  But good job in getting those soldiers to stop."  Ygraine was heading down the girls' dorm steps to the landing where Hermione was jumping at the strings Ygraine had left behind.   Ygraine took out her wand and pointed at the skinniest of the cheese strings and shot out some sort of command Hermione had never heard before.

"Where'd you learn that trick?"  Hermione was more curious about the charm then lecturing Ygraine on leaving her food lying around.

"Oh, I was a testy child, so my parents taught me tricks to play with my food so that I'd have fun eating it.  That way they were sure I was eating all my vegetables and everything off my plate."  She gave a little giggle at the memory as she motioned for the cheese strings to all line up on the plate, which she picked up after they had all landed.

"You must be pretty smart then, if you were able to perform your own charms like that as a kid."  Hermione said, walking with Ygraine back to the common room.

"Yeah, I can hold my own, but I don't think I stand anywhere near the top of brains when it comes to you.  I hear you have the top marks here at Hogwarts?  Bet your parents are proud."

Hermione was quite flattered to hear so, and thought to herself, she could only improve by becoming better friends with Ygraine.  They continued on down, and sat with the gang, Ygraine acting a little standoffish the rest of the evening.

*          *            *

George stumbled through the corridors of Hogwarts.  He had realized that he had been a jerk and that his family still cared about him but his emotions were flying everywhere and he needed to do something to get rid of the build up within him.  If he could just do something to even up the humiliation factor with Ygraine life would be okay and things could maybe go back to the way they were.  He figured Ygraine seemed the type who could fall back to grace after some form of humiliation.  Right?  

The other question he had for himself was about what it was that he could do.  It had to equal the same blow to the ego that he had felt being shunned from something he truly loved.

He could tamper with her broom for a Quidditch game, but that was too far away and although he wasn't on the team he didn't want Gryffindor to lose.  He needed to do something now and before the Halloween party – or he could do it at the Halloween party!  Genius! He would do it then, he thought to himself.


	9. Chapter 9: Trick or Treat

AN:  This would have been out two days sooner if it weren't for my editor. When exactly does a job and a sick grandmother take precedence over moi? Tee hee…

Chapter 9: Trick or Treat?

It had been a week since the Ygraine/George/Fred blowout, and the discussion surrounding it had died down.  A boiling plot, however, could still be felt by all those involved. George was planning something and Ygraine knew it; George had warned her after all.  She just didn't know when he was going to strike.

            Halloween was fast approaching; the names of the three fighting parties had been replaced on the lips of the students by talk of the upcoming Halloween party.  There was of course the giant feast in the Great Hall, but this year there was something new for the sixth and seventh years at Hogwarts, something everyone was looking forward to more than their dinner in the Great Hall.  The students had been invited down to Hogsmeade to celebrate Halloween with a grand party at the Three Broomsticks. 

            The Three Broomsticks was going to be transformed from a little pub to a full blown dance bar with booths on the side for the patrons who wished to sit and enjoy a nice mulled wine or cherry syrup, or for those who wanted to cuddle in the darker corners.

            "How does one 'Come As You're Not?'".  Neville said as he looked at the poster on the Gryffindor message board.

            "Quite simply Neville; come as something that you are not.  I am going as a Quidditch player."  Hermione placed her hand on her chest and looked around for stray listeners, emphasizing that she was talking about herself, showing that she was allowing Neville the privilege of knowing what she was going as.

"Really?  Who's lending you their uniform?"

"Ginny is.  She's the only girl on the team small enough to have a uniform that I wouldn't be swimming in."  The two students headed out of the Gryffindor common room via the Fat Lady and waked down the corridor to their Transfiguration class.

"Do you know what I could go as, Hermione?  I don't want to screw up the evening by wearing a bad costume."  Neville began to blush, and shoved his hands deep into his robes pockets.

"Why's that Neville?  It's just a party.  I'm sure you could come up with something perfectly fine on your own.  Give yourself some credit."  Hermione said, smiling at the ever-bashful boy.

"Um, I don't want to screw up because I have an important date."

Hermione stopped dead in her tracks.  Neville had a date?  She didn't even have a date.  The again, she was going with a group of people.  Come to think of it, so was Neville.

"You have a date?  I thought you were coming with the group?"

"Oh, I'm still coming with the group; so is my date.  It's Luna.  Her and I have been seeing each other since the end of August, so it will be our 4-month anniversary on Halloween.  That's a quarter of a year, and I just want to make it perfect for her."

"Oh Neville, that is so sweet.  Of course I'll help you.  You two have been keeping this pretty quiet."

"Well not really that quiet; everyone has just been focusing on other things."

Hermione nodded in complete agreement. Things had been like a soap opera since the whole Quidditch fiasco, and she wished, just like Neville, that things would just go back to being normal.

"Here we are. Guess it's time for class.  Thanks for saying you'd help me 'Mione."  They both walked into the classroom and took their seats, a blushing Neville beside Dean, and Hermione beside Ron.

"How do we look?"  The twins entered the common room, dressed like Chippendale angels, each in black dress pants, dress shoes, a black bowtie and a white collar.  They wore no shirts, just a tilted halo and strap on wings.  The girls who were present to witness their decent into the common room could do nothing but stare, mouths wide open, drool dripping at the sight of the twins' chiseled bodies.  The bruises on their chests and stomachs and the matching split lips gave them that extra fallen angel appeal.   The twins looked at each other, eyebrows cocked, pleased with themselves.  Ever since their fight, they had returned to being more of a team.  There was still a small amount of tension concerning Ygraine, but they were pretty much back to normal; they figured they just needed a good beating from each other.

"How is anyone supposed to one up that?"  Harry asked, pointing at the twins, disgusted that anyone could look better than him in his Snape costume.

"Like this-" Seamus slowly walked down the stairs in a Gryffindor school uniform, skirt and all, Hermione's Head Girl badge pinned proudly on his over-stuffed chest.  "I'm Hermione, can't you tell?"  He stopped on the bottom step dramatically.  "Now, where's my Draco?"  Seamus looked around the room, and his gaze stopped at the entrance to the common room.  A tall blond was standing right near the Fat Lady.

"Ah, the beautiful man himself."  Seamus headed over to the more feminine looking Draco.  "Together at last my sweet," he swooned and grabbed Ygraine's arm and swung her around, allowing her to flash the room her Head Boy badge and Slytherin uniform.

"Shall we shag now or later, Granger?"

"That is not funny!"  Hermione left Ron's side and ran towards the two uniform-mooching students.

"Seamus, you never told me that you'd have someone dressing up as Malfoy!  That's totally not fair!  I want my badge back now!"  Hermione put her hand out, hoping Seamus would hand it over, knowing fully well that he wouldn't.

"How you got Malfoy to give you his badge is beyond me," Hermione said as she lowered her empty hand to her side, defeated.

"Quite simply, actually.  I just asked him for it," Ygraine said looping her arm through Seamus'.

"You asked for it?  And he just loaned it to you?  Didn't know he had a nice bone in his body," Hermione grumbled in disbelief, rubbing her stomach at a certain feeling that was creeping in, not sure at that moment what it was that was bothering her.

"Oh, Draco is nice once you get past the arrogance, the cockiness, and the plain Slytherin in him.  We're friends, so he didn't seem to have much of a problem lending it to me, 'specially since I told him that Seamus was going as you.  That pretty much sealed the deal."

Hermione's stomach clenched.  She felt as though she was going to be sick, not just from the actual feeling in her stomach, but most of all what it represented.  She was jealous of Ygraine.  Ygraine was friends with Malfoy, and was able to look past the whole Gryffindor/Slytherin feud.  Ygraine was spending time with Malfoy, whereas she was not.  She was allowed to see Malfoy as an arrogant prick, how come he wouldn't let her see past the Slytherin inside?

"You ok, Hermione?  You look kind of green."  Ygraine was concerned for her friend, unaware that the reason the other girl was looking like that was because of her friendship with the Head Boy.  Hermione felt almost ready to puke at the thought that she could be jealous because of Draco Malfoy.

"Yeah, I'm fine, my stomach just turned; must have been something from dinner.  Think I ate too many pumpkin tarts.  Good choice in costume though, although you do look far too pretty to be Malfoy.  And Seamus, my boobs aren't that big!"  Hermione said, watching Seamus stuff more tissue into his bra.

"Oh, I know.  They could be though is you used a simple _Engorgio_ charm. But a girl with this kind of height should have more to offer.  No offence."  He said as he grabbed his 'breasts', making sure they were in the perfect position inside the bra Ygraine had loaned him a long with her uniform.

Everyone headed towards the exit to head over to the Three Broomsticks.  Luna had been waiting outside their entrance for the group and especially Neville, who had dressed up to look like Dumbledore.  Neville had figured since he was always a little slow that he should play it up for fun by coming as one of the wisest wizards ever, to show that he does have a sense of humour.  Hermione had taken Neville shopping at a Wizarding thrift store to pick up some old robes, and had found the perfect wig and beard.  He was hardly recognizable except for the small belly of his, poking the robes out a bit.

The walk to Hogsmeade had proven quite fun.  Everyone was getting along.  There were no fights, no odd silences; things were pretty much as they should have been.  This, however, had some of the students nervous; things were possibly too good at the moment.  After all, it had only been just over a week since the big fight.  A comment made by George had put Ygraine on edge.  He had come up to her as they walked, and walked stride for stride with her in silence for a bit, and then complimented her on her choice of costume and told her that she looked good.  She had felt butterflies when he was walking beside her, but she wasn't sure if they were old butterflies from her old self that once could have crushed on him, or if it were nerves warning of a possible strike.  She smiled at him and thanked George for the compliment and returned one back, saying how well his bruises were healing and that the outfit suited him, hoping to throw him off if an impending prank was the case.  George soon returned to Fred's side and Ygraine to Harry and Seamus, all of whom had questions for the two regarding what just happened.  A simple shrug was both of their answers.

The night was warm, with no wind or rain clouds in sight.  The stars had started to poke through the darkness as the students approached the entrance to the Three Broomsticks, giggles escaping from some of the more eager students to enter.  For some, this would be their first out-of-school party.

The Three Broomsticks was packed with sixth and seventh year students as the group entered.  They were able to see that the place had been decorated to the fullest; it did not look like the Broomsticks they remembered.  There were still some elements that were the same: the mirror behind the bar, the booths on the sides, but the rest of the place had been cleared so that they could fit a dance floor into the middle of the pub.  Cobwebs had been put up to add a dusty effect to the establishment.  Of course, plain cobwebs would not be enough for a Halloween party.  Large spiders had been placed within the webs and if someone were not careful. They would find themselves entwined in the webs and the spider would begin to crawl on them if they hadn't figured out how to get out in time.  Candles of orange, black and white shades were floating all around the students, moving out of their way if they came to close, as the ceilings were low.  Jack-o'-lanterns were also floating around, with decrepit hands floating beside them carrying trays of various snacks for the students.  Steaming cauldrons were holding the bigger hors d'oeuvres.   

One of the floating trays passed by the group, Ron and Neville both grabbing what appeared to be a finger.  They figured out after a hesitant first bite that they were sugar cookies with a pealed almond on the top in place of a fingernail.

The music surrounded the students.  The pub had been charmed to play music at different levels of volume depending on where one would stand.  If one were on the dance floor or standing in the entrance, the music would be at its loudest, the bass beating, making the floor vibrate with the life that the music would bring out of a standing student.  Sitting in a booth, one would find the base down and the music low, allowing time for a perfect conversation.  The bar counter was also at this level, allowing the servers to hear what orders were being made.  The students found this all genius not having to raise their voices unless necessary.

The big group of Gryffindors and the lone Ravenclaw put their jackets and extra items down at a booth claiming it as their own and headed out onto the dance floor to start the night off with some movement.  They all danced together, with no one person in particular, just enjoying the company, allowing the music to take them over.

They'd been dancing nearly a half hour when the sound of laughter drowned out the music.  The crowd moved apart, exposing the group to what everyone was laughing at.  It was obvious to the group why everyone had parted to let them see, as the laughter escaped from Fred and George, Seamus; even Ron and Hermione let out a little giggle, a Harry's mouth dropped and the roaring laughter of the crowd picked up as they watched his reaction.

"The nerve of him!" Harry yelled as he looked at Draco who walked straight up to him and smirked.

"Like my costume Potter?  Someone who loves themselves as much as you do should be able to appreciate the flattery of someone dressing up like them.  Don't you agree?"  Draco said as he pushed the rims of his very thick black glasses up his nose with his middle finger.

Harry looked at Draco in horror, just like the other students in the pub, comparing the real Harry Potter to the obvious caricature of him.  Draco had dressed up to look just like Harry, only purposely not quite as smoothly as Seamus and Ygraine had done with their portrayal of the Head Students.  Draco had instead put a little bit of a cartoon quality to his look.  He had put on a black wig that, unlike Harry's real hair was not shaped into his faux-hawk, but shaped into a bowl cut, and Draco had added his own cow licks.  He was wearing a set of dentures that had the two front teeth sticking out with a big gap.  His uniform was that of a Gryffindor and Harry could only wonder who loaned it to him.  He knew now that no one would confess to that; he had his suspicions though.  The final touch to the costume was the evident scar Draco had added to his forehead; no one could be Harry Potter without the lightning bolt scar.  Harry thought that if he hadn't been the one Draco was making fun of, he probably would have been laughing with the crowd; it was after all a very well thought out costume, and the effort that Draco put in was too much. 'He must really be obsessed', Harry quietly smirked and then glared at Hermione who was almost convulsing from holding her laughter in.

"Oh come on, Harry, you thought it was funny when Seamus came out looking like me."  Hermione said as she passed her other self to come forward and stand beside the dumbfounded Harry.

"That's different 'Mione."  Harry said looking to his other friends for support, but all they could do is either giggle at Draco mimicking Harry's actions or scratch their foreheads thinking if that really could be Hermione sticking up for Malfoy. 

And the night had only begun

"What was that, Hermione? Sticking up for Malfoy now?" Harry asked as he reached for a carrot stick and dipped it as the tray floated by, crunching it with obvious frustration.

"I wasn't sticking up for him.  I was just making a point."  Hermione said, looking to Ron for any help he could give her.

"Sorry, Hermione, I'm with Harry on this one. Sure Malfoy's costume was brilliant, but you wouldn't catch me dead saying that to half the class.  Eh Harry?" Harry continued to much away on his carrot.  Hermione felt bad.

"Ah, I can't be mad at you when you're dressed like that 'Mione," Harry said looking over Ginny's Quidditch uniform.

"I hope that is because she's dressed like a Quidditch player and not because it's my sister's uniform."  Ron teased, looking at his best friend with a hint of fun poking through the older brother glare.

"I am sorry, Harry.  Are we all good, then?"  Hermione asked.

"Yeah, just don't go kissing him or anything; then people really will start talking."  Harry said, laughing as he headed back to the dance floor where Ginny was dressed as a Veela to whisper in her ear that she was supposed to dress up as something that she was not.

"Don't think we have to worry about that any time soon."  Hermione said as she continued on behind Harry.

"I hope not."  Ron said to himself as he picked up his pace to dance with Hermione on the dance floor.

"Seamus, if you keep stuffing my bra like that, it will stretch and then I'll have to get a new one."  Ygraine said as she watched Seamus shove a few more tissues into the already over-stuffed bra.

"Well, if I do stretch it, I promise I will take you shopping for a new one.  You can try them on for me, you know a little fashion show, make sure you get a good one."  George just rolled his eyes at the obvious flirting between the two; he wasn't exactly sure if he liked it, but he suppressed that feeling as fast as it came up.

"Why are my buttons starting to pull apart from my shirt?"  Seamus said looking down at his chest, stuffing the last piece of tissue in, the openings between the buttons gaping to expose the red bra that Ygraine had loaned him with the assumption that he would have kept the bra the same size as she had given it.

"Well Finnegan, in case you haven't ever seen Millicent, it means you have too much stuffed in."  Draco said as he walked up to the group of Gryffindors who were standing near the bar, waiting in line for some butter beer and fire whiskey.

"Well if they are popping out like this, I say let'em out! Let the girls breath, get some light.  Eh, Fred?"  Seamus said, nudging George with his elbow.  George looked at Seamus in confusion, as Seamus was one of the only people who normally knew which twin was which.  He looked at Ygraine, Hermione and Dean; none of them seemed to realize Seamus' mistake.  This could be interesting, he thought to himself.  He and Fred used to pull the twin swap on their family all the time, but now he could try with his friends and classmates.  Could he get away with, he wondered.  He thought of correcting Seamus, but Fred wasn't there; he was off somewhere else, probably making sure Harry wasn't doing anything to drastic with their baby sister.  He looked at Ygraine, looking at him, her smile beaming over to him; she was laughing, she was happy.  He hadn't seen her like that when he was around her since the day of the Quidditch practices.  He actually missed her smile, he realized.  Again, he suppressed that thought and concentrated on pretending to be Fred.  Perhaps he could work this to his advantage should Ygraine think of him as his brother.

"Let the girls out I say.  Liberate them!"  The boys all looked to be in agreement. Hermione and Ygraine just shook their heads.

"Not likely."  Hermione said as she turned towards the dance floor, laughing to herself as her friends pressed on with the issue of women's breasts and how life would be better for them all if the girls went around with no bras at all.

"You know. Granger, I only see it fitting that, you being in Weasley's uniform, we should dance.  But honestly, you could have paid a little more attention to the detail of your costume."  Hermione stopped and looked at back at Draco who had followed her onto the dance floor, Ron's glare not far behind them.

"Excuse me?"

"Tsk, tsk Granger. You should have known this one.  The Weasels have red hair.  Not this brown that you are sporting," he said as he twisted his fingers through her long hair.  As he felt the silk pass through his touch, he was shocked at the liberties she was letting him take.  As his fingers reached the tips of her strands, she pushed them behind her ears nervously.  "So it is only fitting if we dance, what with you being Weasley and me being Potter; not that the git that he is could ask the real one himself to dance with her."

"Is that the best way you could think of asking me to dance with you, Malfoy?  Well it isn't going to work, seeing how your theory is all wrong anyways, which would mean that you'd actually be dancing with me and I'd be dancing with you.  I'm not dressed as Ginny; I've only borrowed her uniform so that I could dress up as a Quidditch player.  Perhaps, next time you try to ask me to dance you may want to start with 'Hermione would you care to dance with me?'  Then maybe I'd think about accepting your offer."

Ron walked up behind them and placed his hand on the small of her back.  "I'll take that dance you promised me, Hermione.  Malfoy."  The two walked further into the crowd of dancing students, Draco standing back, watching as Hermione's eyes would pass his every time she'd make a turn around the floor.

She enjoyed dancing with Ron.  Their bodies were working to the rhythm.  Although her hands would brush his body as she'd move up and down as the beat pounded, her eyes would look beyond the red hair to the boy leaning on the beam across the room from her.  He would dip her, and she'd laugh at his flirtations; he'd pull her closer and she'd smile as her heart would flutter.  The music was fast and her heart was racing, beating for two.  She was with one, the other beat was sent out across the room to the grey eyes that could see the waves that passed over to him.  The light flickered and smoke appeared, casting shadows around the room.  She was getting hot; her hair clinging to her face as the sweat began to drip.  She took the Quidditch robe off and handed it off to Ginny who was heading to the table with Harry for a quick break.  Her red shirt clung to her body; she was having too much fun.

The mystery she put into her moves had kept the grey eyes on her.  He didn't move; instead he just stood there, watching her with the other.  She couldn't tell if he was jealous or just trying to make her nervous as she'd thrust her hips and allow her body to rise into the one she was with.  She was dancing for him, closer it seemed than the one who held her. She couldn't understand why.  She was supposed too loathe him; she did loathe him, that's why she was dancing with Ron, because it was the right thing to be doing.  Ron was right, he was wrong.  The music finally came to a rest and slowed down.  Ygraine blocked her vision of the piercing grey eyes.  Was she going to dance with him?  Why was she talking to him?  What was she whispering in his ear?  Why were they laughing?  He never laughs.  She looked away as Ron pulled her in to dance with him.  The music was slow and sensual.  She rested her chin on his chest trying to concentrate on the moment, if there was a moment for them.  She could feel Ron breathing, the heat of his body was soaking into hers.  It felt perfect, but there was something missing, perhaps because it was perfect.  She caught a glimpse of _him_.  He was still talking to _her_, but then a body moved in front of them and pulled Ygraine away.  'Thank you, Fred' Hermione thought to herself.

'Care to dance?' he had asked her.  He knew it was going to take a lot of guts and patience for him to pull this one off, but he wanted to see if it could be done.  To see if he could fool them all, fool her.  People had been mistaking him for Fred ever since he had broken his choker; there was nothing physical to tell them apart anymore.  The timing had been perfect for him to ask her to dance.  Fred had left the pub to get some fresh air, so there was only one twin in the Three Broomsticks.  No one would know it was him who was dancing with her.  He wasn't sure why he wanted to do it, but then again he wasn't sure why he did a lot of things.  He was planning on pulling something that night, to make the score between him and Ygraine even, in his mind anyways, but he had to seize the opportunity to get some information on her.  It could possibly prove useful to him in the future should he ever feel the need to pull something more.  Plus she was beautiful; who wouldn't want to dance with someone that looked like her, even if she was dressed up like Draco Malfoy.

She seemed a little caught off guard when he had asked her, probably because she wasn't sure if it were Fred or George who was asking, and she wasn't about to ask to find out either.  She had agreed to dance but kept a safe distance from the fallen angel at first as she tried to figure out which twin it was that she was dancing with.  Even though she wanted to hold on and be close to the bruised body and make the hurt feel better. She knew inside that she shouldn't, she wasn't even sure she should have said yes to the dance in the first place.  'What harm could it cause if he was the one to ask her?' she asked herself.  She knew the answer: lots.  Yet she still stepped out onto the dance floor with him, some feathers falling out, as they'd brush up against some of the other students dancing.  She let out a little giggle when one of his wings smacked Ron as he was dancing with Hermione.  She figured as she moved in, that it had to be Fred, it couldn't possibly be George, she was sure of it.

He pulled her in, and they danced for the first time.

He watched her dancing with him; he only wanted her because he couldn't have her.  She was wrong and forbidden.  She was a Mudblood, a know-it-all, a Gryffindor, the Head Girl, and most of all, she was Granger, the girl he had disliked the moment he had seen her in first year.  Yet now he was feeling her pull, and it was making him sick.  He knew the chances were slim, but a Malfoy always got what he wanted, and right now he wanted a piece of her, just to feel her, to see her outside of the castle walls and those walls she'd built around herself.  He knew he wasn't going to taste her tonight.

Pansy came up to him and he figured that he might as well get something out of this night.  They walked onto the floor, with obvious excitement on her part; he just wanted to feel a female body up against his, and she'd do, for now.  He had chosen to dance near _her_; he brushed up against her as he passed by to find a spot small enough on the floor for him and the replacement.

The song was almost over, and she could still feel the goose bumps on her body from when he had brushed up against her as he passed.  He had made a habit of looking her in the eye whenever he could, and this disconcerted her.  She knew Ron suspected something as his grip tightened on her every time he faced Draco.  The song began to fade.  She slowly pulled away from Ron and against her volition looked Draco in the eyes.  He smiled coyly at her and grabbed Pansy, pulling her in so that he could kiss her, looking Hermione right in the eyes as he did so.  He was teasing her and they both knew it, which was probably why she grabbed Ron's hand and walked off the floor with him, and headed to the table where everyone else was sitting.

There were two spots left open when they got there.  Ygraine had left to go to the bathroom, and George had gotten up to go get himself, Fred and Neville another round of drinks as they were almost finished theirs.  Ygraine came to the table and sat beside Hermione.  Everyone was laughing and enjoying themselves; the night was turning out to be a wonderful time for all. 

George returned to the table with the three drinks and placed them in front of his counterparts and proceeded to drink his in silence.  He watched her sip her fire whiskey, the warmth of it heating her cheeks.  He couldn't help but smile.  Although nothing had been said during their dance together, he knew she was thinking it was Fred.  There was no way that he could have possibly asked her to dance, at least as far as she could guess when they were together, moving as one on the floor.  She had appeared to be so calm on the outside, but when he was holding her, he was able to feel the blood running through her veins; her nerves were up high when she was touching him, and he enjoyed it.  He knew that his days as Fred were only just beginning.

A scream and some laughter broke his train of thought.  His eyes focused back on to Ygraine, her appearance giving away what the commotion was all about.  He wished then that he hadn't have missed out on the event, as it was his handy work that caused her to scream.

"Neville!  Why'd you go and spit your drink on me?  This is disgusting!"  Ygraine was wiping her face with her hands, brushing away the drips of Neville's drink from her eyes.

"I'm so sorry Ygraine, so sorry, please don't be mad at me.  My drink, it's rotten.  George, are you sure you got me a cherry syrup?"  George looked at Neville and hid his smile.

"Sorry, mate, thought you said you wanted a Sherry.  Here, go get yourself a new drink."  George handed him a sickle.

"I'm going to go wash up.  This is so gross."  Ygraine got up and headed towards the girls' bathroom, Hermione close behind.  "I got some on my hands, think I'll go wash it off.  And Neville, the drink isn't rotten, it's just Sherry; you've had it on the truffle at school."  George looked at the two girls as they walked away, one completely drenched, the other simply misted.  A grin spread across his face, ear to ear. He hadn't felt this good in a long time, this was just the first part.

Hermione squeezed the soap onto her hands and worked it into a lather. Ygraine stood at the sink beside her, laughing at the whole ordeal.  Hermione placed her hands under the faucet and watched the bubbles go down the drain, the water rinsing her hands clean.

Then all of a sudden a spot began to appear as the water dripped away.  Ugly brown meshed with purple and green spots began to poke their way through the pigment of her white skin.  Hermione figured she had just missed a spot, and lathered up again, rinsed them clean, but the spots only got worse. They weren't washing away.  It dawned on her, and she hissed a warning to her friend.

"Ygraine! Don't use the soap on your-" It was too late.  Ygraine was looking in the mirror, a blotchy face starring right back at her.  She knew it wasn't quickly coming off, as she had heard from the stories that George never pulled a half-assed prank.  She knew he wanted everyone to see her ugly coloured face, and see it they would.  She walked out of the bathroom, tears hidden beneath laughter and her head held high.  She walked right up to George who was smiling at the table.  She grabbed her jacket and looked George straight in the eyes.

"I'll see you in class tomorrow.  Good night."


End file.
